Harry Potter: The Xenomorph King
by Viingyolvith
Summary: Harry Potter becomes the first in a recreation of an old species forgotten by time. Dumbledore Bashing HarryXHarem
1. A Proposition

Lady Magic travels the world she helped to create and loves seeing the amazing things her magic has brought forth into the world over time, but she has become irritated recently with the amount of accidental magic coming from Surrey. Unlike most forms of magic, accidental feels uncomfortable to her as it is usually done in times of great distress. She homes in on the entity and decides to pay a visit to Number 4 Private Drive.

Appearing in front of the house she notices a field of magic surrounding the house. Entering the house, she notices 3 muggles upstairs and a small wizard in a cupboard. Confused, she opens the cupboard to find the Boy-Who-Lived asleep. She can tell he is malnourished and sleep deprived. 'Absolutely sickening,' she thinks to herself, 'they treat my creations without care, and now they leave their savior to die at the hands of muggles. They need to be taught a lesson.' She waved her hands over the sleeping wizard and woke him up. As Harry opened his eyes, he saw someone standing in the doorway and bolted upright out of fear he had slept in, hitting his head on the ceiling.

"Are you okay?" Lady Magic asked.

""I'm fine miss just hit my head," he responded as he looked up and saw a beautiful woman, he very image radiating power and elegance.

"You are not fine!" she exclaimed, "I can tell that you are on the brink of death, and I want to help."

'Who would want to help a freak like me' Harry thought.

"You are not a freak either!"

"What, can you read minds our something?"

"Yes, I can, and you are not a freak, you are a wizard. A human descended from a gift I gave humanity eons ago. I am Lady Magic, and I have felt your magic many times over the past few weeks. Considering your age, you will no doubt find out more about your magic soon, but you are very powerful even at such a young age. You have survived this long, but it won't last and to that end I would like to propose something that will be beneficial for both of us. Before I speak further, we should get you something to eat. "Silently agreeing Harry went ahead of her into the kitchen, and got to work preparing two ham sandwiches. After he was finished, he handed her one.

"Thank you." she responded, "I was going to summon us some food, but thank you." They sat in down as they ate their sandwiches.

"So, do you have a name, or should I just call you Lady Magic?" Harry asked.

"I don't have a name, but if you want to you may call me Hecate. I have a proposition for you."

"What is it?"

"When I brought magic to this world, I made many magical creatures; phoenixes, dragons, centaurs, and xenomorphs. However, when I gifted humanity with magic, the humans used their power and wiped out all the xenomorphs. They were one of my favorites, and the humans just destroyed them!"

"What is a xenomorph?"

"It was the perfect predator, its structural perfection matched only by its hostility. It was a way of keeping the natural order of the world. Many humans and other creatures died at the hands of them, but they never killed off an entire race like the humans did."

"So, what are you proposing?"

"I will give you the gift of being the first in a new form of xenomorph. A patriarch through which to bring my old creation back and to show those wizards not to mess with my creation. Even now, they take the land of magical creatures for themselves and restrict or even kill those who do not follow their demands."

"What would that do to me?"

"You'd be able to transform freely between your human form and your xenomorph form. However, you would also need to construct a hive in which to grow the species. It used to be that the xenomorphs had a queen, a matriarch that laid eggs for the species, but with you being a male I've had to changed the life cycle quite a bit."

"So, the only xenomorphs would be me, and my children? What if I want to make someone, I care about a xenomorph as well? What if they get discovered because of their appearance?"

"Well the xenomorphs went through 2 births in a way. The queen laid the egg, the egg hatches and the creature inside impregnates another species orally. After the impregnation the xenomorph bursts through the chest of the impregnated species and takes on attributes of that species, and I suppose I could make the xenomorphs take on the form of the creature they were born from, they will also have memories of the host, so they may blend in, but if that is not enough, when you establish a hive, and get 1 queen, you will be able to transform someone directly into a xenomorph. As for making a hive, if you ever meet a nice girl, I'll allow you to be able to change her into a queen, but you're still too young for that, so just focus on blending in and getting used to your new form."

"I don't know about this; this would require killing innocent people."

"I never said you had to kill a person, it could be anything; a human, a dog, a cat, a cow, a horse, etc. It is something I require of you, but I haven't told you what you would be getting out of this yet. First off, revenge, with your new form you could go upstairs and get revenge for all your relatives did to you. You would also get perfect eyesight, and better hearing and smell. You would never go hungry as you could hunt for your food. Your body will repair itself, and that thing in your scar will be destroyed so that you will no longer have it."

Harry was torn to say the least, but the pros seemed to outweigh the cons, and he didn't want to turn down help from Hecate, it would be an insult. "Will it hurt?" he asked, hoping the answer was no.

"No" she responded, "You should also quickly get used to the ability. I do however intend to visit on occasion to make sure you are doing well, but do you accept this gift?"

"Yes, Hecate."

"Good, now hold still."

Harry could feel himself begin to change. First, he grew taller, about 2.2m in height. Then he felt his head elongate and his legs bend into a digitigrade style. Next, he noticed his fingers had grown longer, and there was a 6th finger as well which acted like another thumb. His skin had changed to black in color but felt almost like leather yet also like a shell. He had also grown a tail which came to a point at the end.

Fully transformed he looked around him and noticed he could see everything better than he had ever been able to in his life. He could also "see" his relatives upstairs. He could smell them, and tell exactly where each of them was, and despite his ham sandwich he was still hungry. He let out a loud hiss as his instincts overtook his mind, and he decided to snack on the appetizer, Dudley. He descended to walking on his 4 limbs and rushed up the stairs towards his sleeping cousin.


	2. Revenge

Dudley slept soundly in his bed when he was startled awake by the sound of the fridge opening. His first thought was that his mum had gotten the "freak" working on breakfast early and decided to catch a few more zed's before getting up. After sleeping for a few more minutes however, he heard the "freak" talking to a woman that wasn't his mum. Then he heard a hissing sound come from downstairs and sat up in his bed staring at his door. It opened, and something bolted into his room. Unable to see what had rushed into his room he reached over to his nightstand and turned on the lamp. He scanned the room, but there was nothing. 'I'm seeing things.' he thought, 'After all that freak has done stuff like that in the past.' Then Dudley felt a strange liquid drip onto his pyjamas and looked up into the "eyes" of his monstrous cousin. He tried to scream, but nothing came out. He leapt back and hit his head on the headboard of the bed, as the creature jumped down from the ceiling and held him down. Harry opened his mouth which showing another set of jaws which launched from inside his throat, taking a huge chunk out of his cousin's head. Blood pooled from the kid's head staining the bed.

Well there was no mistake, Dudley was dead, but the Harry continued to eat him for several minutes. His fangs dripped with the blood of his fresh kill. The taste was amazing to Harry, but maybe that was his hunger talking. The scent of fear was intoxicating, and it felt so good to make Dudley know what it was like to be hunted. His only regret was that Dudley didn't know it was him. So, he decided he would make it known to his aunt and uncle who were still sound asleep. He also decided he would keep his aunt alive long enough to find out about his mother. He shifted back into his human form and noticed he wasn't covered in blood, except for the area around his mouth. He licked his lips to find he still enjoyed the taste of the red nectar.

Harry walked out of his cousin's room and went towards the master bedroom and found it unlocked. He opened the door, closed it and locked it. He then went over to where he knew Vernon kept his rifle, and then he loaded it and shot at the ceiling waking Vernon and Petunia up with a start. Vernon immediately noticed Harry holding his rifle and his face turned pale with fear. "Now, you will both pay for your harsh cruelty to me." Harry said as he dropped the gun, "Petunia if you wish to live do not move."

"Cruelty?" Vernon said as he got out of bed and moved towards Harry, "We took you in despite the freak we knew you were! Freaks like you don't deserve to live…" Vernon began to grow silent as Harry began to transform into his xenomorph form once more. Vernon bent down and picked up the gun which Harry had dropped and put 2 bullets into Harry's chest, but it takes a lot more than that to kill a xenomorph. Harry leapt at his uncle, knocking the gun away, and pinned him down like he did with Dudley. Harry remembered what he did last time and shot out his second jaw which left a large cavity where Vernon's face was.

He then turned to see that his Aunt Petunia still sat in bed, she had of course recoiled and was sobbing in both fear and mourning for her husband. Harry then returned to his human form and walked towards her and did the one thing he had always wanted to do since the first time she burnt him with a skillet, he slapped her. "Now Petunia, I am going to ask you some questions and if you answer them, I might not eat you, understood?" Harry asked, but Petunia still sat incoherent and crying, so he slapped her once more, "I said, you will answer me, understood?!"

"Yes," she whimpered.

"Good. Now what do you know about my mother and father?"

"…"

"Speak!"

"Your mother was a witch, and your father was a wizard, they met at a special school for freaks called Hogwarts. They died protecting you on Hallowe'en 10 years ago, and you were left on our porch that night."

"So, you knew I would be a wizard as well?"

"Yes."

"Do you know anything else about wizards and witches? Where I can find out more about Hogwarts and magic?"

"When your mother went to school, we took her to King's Cross Station, and she was given a ticket for a Platform 9 ¾. As for anything else there's a broken-down shop on Charing Cross in London. At least it looked broken down to me, but according to what they said, to wizards it looks like a pub called the Leaky Cauldron."

"Anything else?"

"No, I know nothing else."

"Good, because I'm almost full and could use a late-night snack." Harry said as he grinned maliciously.

"I thought you said you wouldn't eat me!"

"I said I might not eat you, but don't worry, you'll be meeting your husband and son again shortly." Harry responded as he quickly dealt with the last member of the Dursley family.

After he had finished however, part of Harry felt unsettled with what he had done. Why had he acted like that? He had never killed anyone before, but now he had killed 3 in a single night. He thought the Dursley's deserved their fate, but he was still perturbed by it.

He walked downstairs to find Hecate still in the kitchen. "So, how was it?"

"Filling, but unsettling. I killed them… and I enjoyed it, what's happening to me?"

"It's okay, it's okay, calm down. That was just your xenomorph instincts kicking in. It should become as natural as breathing given time."

"So, what now?"

"You should go to the Leaky Cauldron. Take some of your things and go there."

"I'm just supposed to walk there?"

"No, run there. Xenomorphs are incredibly fast, you should make it in no time."

"What about the Dursleys?"

"Once you leave, I'll set the house ablaze."

Harry quickly gathered his few things and put them into a small bag before transforming and running out of the house. Almost immediately after Harry left, the house was engulfed in flames.

Meanwhile in Wisteria Walk, Little Whinging

Arabella Figg was having a pleasant rest when suddenly one of her cats woke her up. She got up, went to feed the cat, but couldn't go back to sleep so she turned on the TV. A fire had broken out on Private Drive. 'Oh no, please don't be the one I think it is.' Arabella thought, but to her dismay it was indeed the home of her charge, Harry Potter. She quickly went to her fireplace scaring her cats and used her Floo Powder to go inform Dumbledore. By the time she had gotten to his office however, Dumbledore it seemed was already informed.

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Their house caught on fire; I haven't gone to check I flooed here as soon as I saw the news."

"Well my alarm system went off telling me that the Dursley home had been damaged in a large way, but according to my last one here." he said holding up a silver spoon, "Harry is still alive and well."

"Where is he?"

"I assumed he escaped, possible with the rest of his family, we need to go there right now to see what happened and where they are heading."

"Um, Albus you may want to wear something a bit more, muggle than that."

"O.K. give me a second." Dumbledore said before waving his wand at himself and his robes became regular muggle clothes, "I'll never understand, why muggles wear these."

"It's comfortable."

'Liar' Dumbledore thought as Arabella grabbed his arm and they apparated to the Dursley's home. They looked at the house and saw that the house fire was being put out by the fire brigade, but they were not prepared for the feeling of dread when they didn't see Harry nor his relatives outside, and the Dursley's car sat in the driveway. Once the fire was put out, Dumbledore went inside to see if anyone was inside. The place was charred, and the air was full of ash, but all he was able to find were the dead bodies of all 3 of the Dursleys, but the worst part was that they weren't just burnt they were mauled, and parts were eaten.

'Did a creature do this?' Dumbledore thought, 'Did it take Harry alive to its nest? I must find out where he is if I can save him it might push my plans further. I need to go to the ministry, maybe someone at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures could help me find him.'

 **Meanwhile outside of London**

Harry found he could indeed run very fast, about 48.8 km/h (30.3 mph). He loved the feel of the wind on his dome, and the sheer freedom he had never felt before, and soon made his way to London. 'O.K. Petunia said that The Leaky Cauldron is on Charing Cross. So, if I travel on the rooftops, I be might be able to get there quickly and undetected.' Harry thought.

After finally finding the street in question he found himself in an alley close to The Leaky Cauldron. 'I doubt wizards of any kind would want to see me like this' Harry thought as he changed into his human form, picked up his bag and walked inside. He was met by an old, quite bald man who resembled a toothless walnut.

"Good evening mister?" the old man said.

"Potter, Harry Potter."

"Hahaha, really now? Where's your scar?"

"You know about my scar?"

"Everyone knows about the scar."

"My relatives, took me to get cosmetic surgery, said it made me look like a freak and it made them look bad."

"A freak? It should be something to be proud of! Who are they to call you a freak anyway?"

"They were non-magic folk who hated magic, my parents, and by extension me."

"Oh, well what happened that brings you here?"

"I've been abused for some time by my relatives and decided to run away, I grabbed some money hopped on a bus and came here."

"Well…I'm not sure if I believe that your Harry Potter, but I'll buy that you're running away from your relatives. I suggest you get a good night's sleep, got any money?"

"I've got about £30 on me is that enough to spend the night?"

"Pounds? We use galleons here."

"What is a galleon?"

"How is it you were able to find this place and not know the basics of wizarding culture?"

"I didn't know wizards existed till today."

"Hmmm, you know what kid, I'm going to do you a favor just this once. You can stay the night, but I suggest going to Gringotts Bank tomorrow, if you are Harry Potter they will have something for you from your parents."

"Thank you, sir."

"It's Tom." He said handing Harry a key, "Here is the key for room 11, good night." After taking the key, Harry headed up the stairs, found room 11, went in and collapsed on the bed in exhaustion.


	3. Gringotts

Dumbledore searched Privet Drive all night with a couple of workers from the D.R.C.M.C. who were dumbfounded. The markings found did not match any documented creature. They had a new species on their hands and judging from the corpses it was no doubt XXXXX. They continued to search when they found some tracks behind the house which went off into the woods. They then followed the tracks for several hours but found nothing. Dumbledore thanked them for the effort and went to Honeydukes to get something to help him think.

 **Meanwhile at The Leaky Cauldron**

As for Harry, he had the best night's sleep in his entire life, on a real bed. He had no dreams to speak of, but he felt contented to lie there forever, that was until Tom woke him up at 8:50 saying he should head to the bank as soon as possible to not have to wait in line. Harry got up to notice a peculiar owl looking at him through the window next to the bed. Feeling curious, Harry opened the window and the owl flew in, dropped the envelope on the bed, and flew off. Harry looked at the envelope, "To Harry Potter, Unknown Address." Harry let his curiosity and excitement over never actually getting a letter overtake him as he opened it and read.

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please fine enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Harry Pulled out the second paper and read what he needed for his school supplies.

UNIFORM

First-year student will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

 _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_

by Miranda Goshawk

 _A History of Magic_

by Bathilda Bagshot

 _Magical Theory_

by Adalbert Waffling

 _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_

by Emeric Switch

 _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_

by Phyllida Spore

 _Magical Drafts and Potions_

by Arsenius Jigger

 _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_

by Newt Scamander

 _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection_

by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set of crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, and owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

Yours sincerely,

Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus

Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions

After reading the 2 letters addressed to him, he noticed the time, 8:55. He rushed into Diagon Alley, and headed straight for the bank, glancing at the stores as he passed.

He made it to Gringotts right as it opened and saw a small creature unlocking the chains on the door. He politely said, "Good morning, sir." and the goblin gave him a look of surprise, but nodded to Harry as he went in. He went up to a nearby teller, "Excuse me sir, but I was told I may have money left to me by my parents." The goblin looked down at him from atop his seat and asked, "What is your name?"

"Harry Potter."

"Do you have your key?"

"What key?"

"The key to your vault."

"No, I never received one."

"Never received one? I find that hard to believe, but if you wish to verify who you are and gain ownership over your vaults you will have to follow me." he said getting up from his chair and walking towards a nearby door.

"Out of curiosity sir, what is your name?"

"Blornok", he replied as lead him into a small room with a blade on a table and a piece of paper, and then told him to sit down. "Now to make certain of who you are, please slice your hand with the dagger and let your blood drip onto the paper, it will tell us who you are." he explained.

"Will it hurt?"

"Only a little, the blade has a numbing enchantment and a quick healing enchantment as well, so it should be fine."

Harry made a quick slice on his hand, while it stung slightly, but then Harry noticed his blood dispense onto the paper and eat through it and the table beneath. He stared down in amazement, his blood was acid, but then he remembered it was a test to prove who he was.

"What the devil did you do?" Blornok asked shocked at what happened.

"Nothing, I swear!"

"You're not telling me the whole truth. Who are you? What are you?"

"I am Harry Potter, son of Lily and James Potter."

"But what are you? No human or wizard could do that."

"I am a creature, but I can't tell you what I am."

"Hmmm, well if you truly wish to keep up this charade, I know exactly how to make certain of who you are. Come with me." Harry began followed him as he took him into a cart and lead him down to Vault 36. "This is the Potter Family Vault, one of the largest and most well-guarded vaults in our entire bank. Only a Potter can touch the door of the vault, without dying. Now prove who you are."

Harry placed his hand on the door, and soon after letters began to appear above his hand.

Sorry Harry Potter, you are not currently allowed in this vault.

Blornok looked at the wall, then back at Harry and said, "Well whatever creature you are, you are undoubtedly Harry Potter, and I would ask you to come with me, so we may begin your emancipation process." He led him back to the cart and they ascended back up to the office they were in before.

"Now Mr. Potter your Birthday is less than a week away, and on your 11th birthday you will be emancipated according to wizarding law. Now usually I would have taken your blood to ascertain your inheritance but seeing as I can't do that, I will have to do it the old-fashioned way." He said and pointed towards Harry and started speaking something which Harry could barely hear let alone understand, and then he gestured towards the paper on the desk and the paper filled itself almost like it had been printed out. "Now the reason we goblins don't do that for all our customers is because it is very draining for us. Now I'm going to relax for a bit while you read your inheritance portfolio." He said as he nearly collapsed in his seat. Harry picked up the piece of paper and began reading it.

Name: Harry Potter

Father's Name: James Potter

Mother's Name: Lily Potter (neé Evans)

Heir/Lord:

Lord to the House of Potter (blood)

Heir to the House of Black (blood)

Lord to the House of Gryffindor (blood)

Lord to the House of Peverell (blood)

Lord to the House of Slytherin (blood)

Vaults:

Potter Family Vault: 5,122,744,200 Galleons, 9 Sickles, and 10 Knuts (Inaccessible until emancipation)

Potter Trust Vault: 50,610 Galleons, 10 Sickles, and 6 Knuts (8000 Galleons deposited every year on 31 July, since 31 July 1980.)

Black Family Vault: 940,810,250 Galleons, 4 Sickles, and 23 Knuts (Inaccessible without permission of current Lord Black)

Gryffindor Vault: 3,864,374,687,396 Galleons, 6 Sickles, and 12 Knuts (Inaccessible until emancipation)

Slytherin Vault: 3,648,743,678,425 Galleons, 2 Sickles, and 5 Knuts (Inaccessible until emancipation)

Peverell Family Vault: 260,620,935,593(Inaccessible until emancipation)

Properties

Potter Manor (Inaccessible until emancipation)

Hogwarts (Inaccessible until emancipation)

Grimmauld Place (Inaccessible without permission of current Lord Black)

Harry felt that something was off about his account though. "Um, Mr. Blornok, there seems to be an accounting error."

"What do you mean?"

"Shouldn't this be 80,000 Galleons instead of 50,610 Galleons?"

"Well, yes if you never spent any of it, but that can't be possible."

"Why not?"

"Your magical guardian must've used it for you in some way; toys, clothes, food?"

"I grew up with my non-magic relatives, in a cupboard, beaten, and starved for most of my life."

"So, none of the expenses made by your account were made for you or by you?" he asked with a malicious smile.

"Yes, who is my magical guardian?"

"Your magical guardian is one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwarts."

"So now what?"

"Well, I would wait until your birthday to start anything serious or Dumbledore may grow suspicious, once you are emancipated his link to your account will be broken, and you can easily gather a case against him for theft. If you should ever meet him before then, merely say you got money from your trust vault and nothing else."

"O.K. I think I'll do that. Um, Mr. Blornok, if it isn't much trouble could I ask you to help build a case against him?"

"Certainly Mr. Potter, though it is going to cost you say…500 Galleons."

"Done! But please Mr. Blornok call me Harry."

"O.K. Harry you can just call me Blornok. Now shall I show you to your trust vault?"

"Yes, please." he said as he leads me towards the cart, and they descended to Vault 687. Once they were in front of the vault Blornok gave Harry a key saying, "Usually there is only one key, but seeing as your magical guardian has the original, I got this for you to have till you're emancipated." Harry turned the key in the door opening it to find a room full of galleons, and begin to wonder, how many galleons would he need? How was he going to carry enough? It's not like he had large pockets or anything. He turned to Blornok and voiced his worries to him and Blornok replied, "It is a very common problem, if you pay us 100 Galleons we will give you a small bag that can fit in your pockets from which you can draw out money," Harry thought about it, and it seemed like a good investment, and suddenly Blornok had the bag in his hands. "All you have to do is think about the amount you wish to withdraw, and don't worry nobody but you can use it." he said, and Harry was filled with relief, and decided he would go out shopping for his school supplies. He walked out of Gringotts and began to walk towards Borgin and Burkes because he needed to get started on understanding this new world, he was in. Then he noticed he was being watched by a tall thin looking old man, with moon shaped spectacles, silver hair and beard.

'Is that him?' Dumbledore asked himself, 'No, Harry would look smaller than he should if those muggles starved him like I thought they would, but he looks just like James, but with Lily's eyes, could it be a coincidence?' Thinking it worth the risk Dumbledore approached the young man and said, "Good morning Harry Potter, how are you?"

Harry was surprised and asked, "How did you know my name?"

"Well, when I heard what happened with your relatives' house, I went to investigate, and found you missing. I've been looking for you all night."

"What happened to the house?"

"It caught fire, and your relatives died. However, your relatives seemed to have been eaten by a creature. What happened last night?"

"I was abused by the Dursley's and last night I broke out of my cupboard and ran to the bus to catch a ride to London."

"I'm so sorry, it is my fault that you've suffered so much." He said, "After your parents died, I put you under the protection of a blood ward which required you to live with your blood relatives. I did this, so no one would come trying to hurt you, but it seems I was mistaken."

"Well I'm glad I don't have to go back. I never considered that place my home."

"What happened to your scar?"

"Oh, the Dursley's thought the scar made my look too much like a 'freak' so they took me to get cosmetic surgery to remove it."

Dumbledore could tell that the magic that was once there was gone, 'How did he get rid of the horcrux?' he thought to himself. He tried to read Harry's thoughts to see if he was telling the truth but was unable to. This scared him, 'I need to get him under control somehow... I suppose I could use the Weasley's ahead of schedule.'

"Since you have no home to go back to how bout I take you to a place where you can stay till the beginning of the school year. I know I screwed up with the Dursleys, but this family is one of the nicest families I've come to know over the years, trust me."

"That's fine, but can I get some shopping done? I thought I might get my school supplies today."

"Fine, but I shall accompany you to make sure you don't get lost."

Harry had only known the man for several minutes and already hated him, not only had he stolen money from his vault, but Harry felt something strange. Almost as if someone was trying to read his mind. 'Could he even do that?' he wondered. The only thing that made him think that was a slight headache he got while Dumbledore stared at him. Harry didn't have much time to think on this as he wanted to get his school stuff as quickly as possible.

He went about getting most of his supplies for the school year except a pet, deciding it would be better to do so when he wasn't being followed. Everything was going well, and then they entered Ollivander's. The old wandmaker looked at the 2 visitors with a smile on his face.

"Ah Albus, good to see you again. How's your wand holding up? Holy, dragon heartstring, 13 inches and quite rigid if I remember correctly." the shopkeeper said.

"It is doing fine Garrick, but I'm not here for me." Dumbledore said as he gestured for Harry towards the man, "This is Harry Potter."

"Ah, I'd been wondering when I would be seeing you here Mr. Potter. It feels like only yesterday your mother and father were in here buying their first wands." Ollivander said as he began to sort through the many boxes of wands he had in stock, "Here you go, just give it a whirl."

Harry flicked the wand and several of the drawers in the back of the shop shot out into the shelves.

"No? How about this one?" he said handing Harry another wand.

Harry flicked this one again, which shattered the nearby glass vase.

"Nope, no, definitely not." Ollivander said exasperated. He then thought of something, "I wonder." he said as he went towards the shelf and pulled out another. "Try this one." he said handing it to Harry.

Harry grasped the wand and flicked it like the other two, with no results, "I was certain that would be it… No matter Mr. Potter I shall find you the right wand even if it takes all day." Whilst Ollivander and Harry kept checking the wands to see which one would work Dumbledore was silently thinking about how it was strange that the brother wand for Voldemort's wand didn't work for Harry. Eventually Ollivander found the perfect match; cypress, dragon heartstring, 14 inches and quite flexible. Glad that they found the perfect wand for Harry, he gave Ollivander 7 Galleons for the wand, and then with most of Harry's school shopping completed Dumbledore lead Harry towards a floo to take them to the Weasley Burrow.


	4. The Weasley Family

Harry and Dumbledore appeared in the living room of the Burrow and heard a woman, "Arthur is that you? I thought you had a meeting to get to." Said woman rounded the corner entering the living room, she was a short, plump, kindly-looking woman with flaming fiery red hair. "Oh, hello Dumbledore. Nice of you to visit, who's your friend?"

"This is Harry Potter, Molly," Dumbledore replied, "Harry, this is Molly Weasley."

"Oh, pleased to meet you. Well we were about to have lunch; would you two care to join us and then we can discuss why you two decided to pay us a visit?"

Dumbledore and Harry both accepted the invitation and told to sit down while Mrs. Weasley kept working her 'magic' on preparing the food. Soon, two red headed boys, twins, entered the kitchen. "Hello, my is Fred/George and this is my brother George/Fred, what's your name?" they asked, there question obviously directed at Harry, but Harry was taken aback at how perfectly in sync they spoke.

"My name is Harry, Harry Potter. How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Speak like that."

"Magic," they said as they began to laugh at their joke, then one of them said, "We just like messing with people."

"It's hilarious to see people try to guess which is which."

"So, you're the famous Harry Potter."

"Where have you been this whole time?"

"My relatives house, but I'd rather not talk about it," Harry said, the twins merely nodded their heads in understanding. Then another red-haired boy entered, followed by a redheaded girl. "Hey Ginny."

"Hey Percy."

"How'd the de-gnoming go?" the twins asked the two new additions to the table.

"Pretty good, who's our guest, besides Dumbledore that is?" Percy asked, but before Harry could answer the twins both said the answer and watched. Harry followed their eyes to see the little girl become flustered as she quickly excused herself and ran upstairs. The twins again began laughing and Harry looked at them with a look that said, 'What just happened?'. "We'll tell you when you're older." they said.

"Where is Ron? Lunch is almost ready," asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Last I checked still in bed asleep," answered George, Harry looked around and saw everyone put their fingers in their ears, and so he did the same.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley! Get up, get dressed, and get downstairs, it's lunchtime!" Mrs. Weasley shouted at a volume Harry never thought was humanly possible.

"How did she get her voice to that volume?" Harry asked.

"Sonorus Charm, great for making big speeches," Percy replied

Soon after that another red-haired boy came down, 'How many kids does she have?' Harry asked himself, then chastised himself. He never really had a family, so he always thought if he got older, he wanted as big a family as possible. Ron sat down at one of the empty chairs and noticed Harry and Dumbledore. "Hello, Professor Dumbledore, who's your friend." Ron asked.

"I am Harry, Harry Potter."

"If you're the Harry Potter, where's your scar," Ron asked, not believing him.

"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, thankfully not as loud as before, "That's incredibly rude, apologize!"

"It was just a question!" Ron replied, only to be met by a glare from his mother, "Yes, mum. I'm sorry Harry."

"That's alright." I replied, "I have a feeling I'm going to have to answer this question repeatedly with how much people apparently know me."

"What do you mean, apparently know you? You're one of the most famous wizards in England."

"Why?"

"For killing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"Who is He-With-So-Many-Hyphens?" Harry asked earning a laugh from the twins.

"Voldemort, was his name, and he was a man who gave up everything for the sake of power," Dumbledore answered, "He killed all those who got in his way, including your parents, and then he tried to kill you. Something about you stopped him that night and you were labelled The-Boy-Who-Lived." Harry didn't feel like Dumbledore was telling him the whole story, but decided it was best to not ask.

"So now I'm the Boy-With-Many-Hyphens, great."

The lunch went well as everyone ate their food, conversed about the goings-on in the world, and telling Harry how things worked in the magical world. After lunch was over Harry offered to help Mrs. Weasley with the dishes, to which she simply stated, "No need, it takes care of itself." As she pointed to the dishes washing themselves, drying themselves, and then putting themselves back up.

After lunch Dumbledore began explaining why he had brought Harry, "Harry ran away from his relatives' house last night due to their abuse, and I was wondering if it was possible for you to house him for the rest of summer till school starts." Harry wanted to argue against but realized it best to go along with Dumbledore.

Mrs. Weasley almost ran at Harry as she began hugging him and telling the two of them it was no trouble. She couldn't believe that someone would abuse a child like that, and she felt it her responsibility to care for him, and before anything could be said, that was when Harry became a part of the Weasley family. Dumbledore, feeling that his mission to secure Harry to the side of light was done, left the burrow to go back to his office, and Harry spent the rest of the day getting to know the Weasleys.

Harry spent the next week with the Weasleys getting to know them and being a sort of adopted brother to the lot. Harry enjoyed the twins' pranks and all-around fun personalities, which seemed even funnier when used on Percy. Harry thought that Percy was a bit of a control freak but was grateful as Percy explained to him the types of courses available at Hogwarts. Ron was still rude at times, but Harry felt he could get used to it. However, Ron seemed to always want to bother Harry while he was reading his books for school, which pissed off Harry to no end. Ginny acted rather aloof towards Harry, which Harry later found out was because she was infatuated with the character of "The-Boy-Who-Lived". Harry thought that Mr. Weasley was very friendly, with him excited to have someone to talk about muggle things with, surprising Harry with a question about the function of a rubber duck, which Harry was unable to answer. Mrs. Weasley treated Harry like he was her eighth child, which he greatly appreciated having never been treated like family by anyone before.

At the end of the week, it was Harry's birthday and the Weasley's and him were going to go out to buy their things. Harry tagged along saying that he had something to get as well. When they all arrived at Diagon Alley, Harry split from the group and agreed to meet back at the Leaky Cauldron in an hour. Harry went straight to Gringotts and towards the goblin he spoke to the other day, Blornok.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter."

"This again Blornok? I told you to call me Harry." Harry replied surprising the goblin.

"I didn't think you would remember my name. Most wizards don't take the time to remember any of us."

"Well, I don't know many goblins, so it's easy to remember you. Anyway, I'm here to get emancipated."

"Of course, right this way." Blornok said leading Harry into the office he had taken him last time, "Now regarding your emancipation, all the paperwork has been mostly filled in for you, I just need you to sign these papers, and perform a ritual to verify that you are indeed of age and are who you say are."

Harry nodded and began filling out the papers. Then when he was done Blornok began the ritual. The goblin's hands began to glow as he pointed to harry sending a wave of energy from his hands that seemed to absorb into Harry's skin and then out again and onto the paper, where suddenly at the top of each of the papers appeared the same line written in red ink.

Verified by Blornok of Gringotts Wizard Bank.

Harry then asked, "So what now?"

"Now you get your lord rings." Blornok said, getting out a box he had kept under the table, "These are the rings for the houses of Potter, Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Peverell. They are symbols of your standing in your family as well as in society. They also offer protection to you, no potions such as the loyalty potion, and love potion can affect you. You may also hide them, if you do not wish for anyone to see them, or you may take them off and summon them whenever you feel the need."

"Why don't I get one for the House of Black?"

"Because Harry, there is already a living Lord Black, and until he dies or relinquishes his status he shall remain so."

"Who is he?"

"Lord Sirius Orion Black, your godfather."

"I have a godfather? I thought I had no family other than the Dursleys. Where is he?"

"Azkaban Prison."

"For how long?"

"He's been there for 10 years, and he's been left there for life."

"What? Then how come he is still a lord, and what is he in there for?"

"He is still a lord, because he was never given a trial and thus never found guilty, as such he never had his title of lord revoked. As for why he's locked up, it is believed that he betrayed your parents to Voldemort, killed 12 muggles and one of his supposed best friends Peter Pettigrew. The only evidence was eyewitness accounts of some nearby wizards, and the only thing found of Pettigrew was his finger."

"What happened to the 12 muggles, did their bodies get destroyed?"

"No, they were dead, but still intact."

Harry thought it strange to imprison someone without a trial and decided he would investigate later. He also did not want anyone, especially Dumbledore to know about his lord status, and as he thought this the rings became invisible, and it felt like he wasn't even wearing them.

"Thank you Blornok."

"You're welcome Harry, and regarding the case you wished for me to prepare against Dumbledore, I'm afraid it will take a little more time to prepare. Dumbledore is a prominent figure, and we'll need strong evidence to not only support our claims, but also to convince the Wizengamot of his guilt. On top of that, I think one of our goblins is working with him."

"Well, that's unfortunate, but I understand," he said to Blornok seeming to calm the goblin a bit. 'Did he think I would be mad at him?' Harry thought. "Well I've got to go, send me a letter if anything changes, and may your bank flow with gold."

"Goodbye Harry, and may your enemies fall before you."

Harry wandered aimlessly through the stores as time flew by and soon it was time to meet up with the Weasleys at the Leaky Cauldron. As he entered the establishment, he saw the red-headed family sitting at a table, but that was all he could see before 2 pairs of hands covered his eyes. "Guess who." Harry heard the voices of the twins coming from his left and right. He pointed to his left and said "Fred" and then pointed to his right and said "George." To say the twins were shocked is an understatement, they had tried this same game several times with Harry, and each time he guessed correctly.

"How do you keep doing that?"

"Magic".

In truth Harry had become more adept at using some of his xenomorph abilities while still in his human form, and despite their similarities. He was able to tell the difference between their scents, after figuring out which scent belonged to which name it was very easy for Harry to guess the names of the twins. The twins laughed, "Well, it seems our lil' Harry's got some tricks up his sleeves." The twins lead Harry to the table as the rest of the Weasleys jumped up at said "Surprise! Happy Birthday Harry." As Mrs. Weasley bent down and from under the table brought up a cage with a beautiful snowy owl inside. Harry was shocked, they had gotten him a present. He had only known them for a week, and they decided to spend money on him, for a present for his birthday. He rushed over and hugged Mrs. Weasley as the rest of the family came together for a group hug. After that Harry sat down at the table and the Weasleys (Harry included) had dinner. Harry decided to name the snowy owl Hedwig, a name which he had remembered from reading _A History of Magic_. The rest of the day went off without a hitch, and as Harry fell asleep in his bed that night he smiled.


	5. The King is Sorted

Harry spent the next month at the Weasley's waiting for the day he would start his first year of magical education. Harry spent the first couple weeks going over his textbooks, to the praise of Percy and the annoyance of Ron, who hated every time Harry cracked open one of his textbooks, wanting to hang out and have fun before school instead of reading. The twins took note of this and remarked, "If you're not careful you'll end up a raven for sure."

"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked.

"The school is divided into 4 houses. Which are meant to represent key qualities that the founders wanted in their students. Percy, and us are in Gryffindor the house of bravery and chivalry. Then there's Hufflepuff home of the loyal and the patient, Ravenclaw the house of creativity and wisdom, and finally Slytherin with cunning and ambition."

"That last one sounds like I would fit." Harry answered.

"You can't be a snake!" Ron shouted at Harry.

"Why not?"

"They're evil!"

"And your brothers are saints?"

"He's got you there Ron." the twins said as they began laughing. Ron's face turned red in anger as he stomped off to his room. "Do you think if I end up in Slytherin, we can't hang out anymore?" Harry asked hoping that wouldn't be the case. "Well, the only one of us I could see not accepting you, just left the room so other than that I think you're fine, but hey if you get into Slytherin you can help get our pranks into their dorm." Harry then joined them in laughing, and the rest of the day went on without trouble. The rest of the month was uneventful, and soon Harry was off with the Weasley's to King Cross Station.

The family got to the wall between Platform 9 and Platform 10, and Harry looked perplexed. 'Where's Platform 9 ¾?' Harry thought. Then Mrs. Weasley saw Harry's expression and explained, "To get on, you have to walk straight at the wall between the 2 platforms. Percy why don't you go first so Harry sees what he's supposed to do?" With that Percy got in front and ran straight into the wall and vanished behind it. Then Fred, then George, and then it was Harry's turn. He ran hoping he passed through like the others and he did to his own amazement. He got on board and joined the Weasley twins, Percy had left because he apparently was chosen as Prefect, and Ron did not want to spend any more time with his brothers.

The train ride had been mostly uneventful, except for one thing that happened near the end of the journey. The twins and Harry had been enjoying some sweets from the trolley, which Harry had paid for, when a witch opened the door asking if any of the three had seen a toad. "No, I haven't but I have an idea," Harry said getting up and walking over to the witch, "What is the toad's name?"

"Trevor"

"Let's see if this works, accio Trevor the toad." Harry said and soon after a toad flew into Harry's hand, which Harry offered to the witch, "Here's your toad back."

"Oh, it's not mine, it's Neville's I was just helping him look. Thank you. Oh, I didn't introduce myself, my names Hermione Granger."

"I'm Harry Potter."

"Really? Is it true? Do you have a scar? What was it like?"

"No, I don't have a scar anymore, and what was what like?"

"Defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"I was one when I 'defeated' He-With-Too-Many-Hyphens, so no I don't really remember it, nor would I care to. I lost my parents and was forced to live with horrible people for 10 years after that." Harry replied growing slightly irritated.

"I'm sorry, there's so many books written about you."

"Based off what? Theories, and hearsay? Don't believe everything you read."

"Well, yes I suppose you're right. Well see you at Hogwarts then, I've got to go take this little guy back to Neville."

Soon after that Harry and the twins had to get changed into their school robes, and they departed from the train. They got split as the first years followed a large man towards the boats; 4 students to a boat, except for the large man, who got a boat to himself. The boats seemed to move on their own as they glided through the water and Harry got his first look at Hogwarts. To say that Harry thought Hogwarts looked beautiful was an understatement, it kind of reminded him of Lady Magic in a way.

After the boats were docked, they went inside and up the stairs where they stood outside of two large doors and a tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood before them with a stern face. "Welcome to Hogwarts." She said, "Now, in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Now while you're here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points, any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup. The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily." After she was finished, she exited through the main doors leaving the group of students there until they were told otherwise.

As the students waited for sorting to begin, everyone except Harry and Ron kept searching around for something or rather someone. Everyone had heard rumors that The-Boy-Who-Lived would be in their first year as well, but no one was able to find him. Eventually the woman returned and said, "We are ready for you now, follow me." All the first years followed her into this enormous room with what looked like the night sky as the ceiling, floating candles throughout the room, and fiery braziers decorating the walls. As they walked to the far end of the room where sat an old hat. Which to Harry's surprise, began to sing:

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So, try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuff's are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So, put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

All the students and faculty applauded the Sorting Hat as it finished its song, Ron then tapped Harry's shoulder saying, "This is it? Fred and George said we had to fight a troll."

"And you believed them? Not only that, but if you were to fight a troll did you study any of the spells in our textbooks to help you during the fight?" Harry responded, fully knowing the answer to be no, which made Ron's face turn red in anger and embarrassment. After their short conversation, Dumbledore stood up, "I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce. The first years please note, that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you that the third-floor corridor, on the right-hand side, is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you." Harry couldn't help thinking, 'Why the hell would he announce that? He has a house full of the courageous, saying something like that will almost guarantee one of them gets curious and goes there anyway.'

Once more the women who lead them into the hall started speaking, "Now when I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses."

"Hermione Granger"

Hermione got up, the hat was placed under her head an in a minute at most it shouted, "Gryffindor!"

"Draco Malfoy"

A blond boy, with a smirk on his face got up, the hat hadn't even touched his head when it shouted, "Slytherin!"

"Susan Bones"

A girl with long wavy brown hair got up, the hat debated for a minute and shouted, "Hufflepuff!"

"Ronald Weasley"

Ron got up with a look of worry on his face, the hat immediately shouted, "Gryffindor!"

"Harry Potter"

At this name the entire school felt tense, Dumbledore readjusted in his seat, and many of the first years who were searching for him were surprised when Harry walked up. Harry sat down in the chair, the hat was placed on his head and it spoke to him.

"Ah, welcome to Hogwarts Lord Potter. I'm sure my makers would be glad to see two of their families coming together, and before you ask yes, I know what you are." the hat whispered in Harry's head.

"Don't tell Dumbledore."

"Don't worry, the founders enchanted me to keep the secrets of all the minds I see. Now on to your sorting, I think we both know what house you belong in."

"I think we do, but I'm worried about Dumbledore. He'll be suspicious if I end up in Slytherin, and I don't need him investigating me. If he figures out too much too soon it would be very bad."

"Well you are both a Slytherin and a Gryffindor by blood, so I'll let you into the house of lions. Before you go, I have one last thing to give you, a message from Slytherin to his descendants, 'Go speak to the portrait that guards Slytherin dorm, it will lead you to my hidden sanctum.' Now good luck to you," the hat whispered to Harry before shouting, "Gryffindor!"


	6. Slytherin's Sanctum

Gryffindors cheered! They got Harry Potter in their house, and Harry decided to sit with the twins. After the last few people were sorted, Dumbledore stood up and addressed the students once more, "Now that the sorting is finished, let the feast begin!", and as he said it huge amounts of food appeared on the tables, more food than Harry had ever seen in his life, and he lived at the Weasley's for a month!

After the feast concluded, Harry and the other Gryffindors were led up to Gryffindor Common Room and given the password, Caput Draconis. After that everyone went to bed, except for Harry. Harry felt restless for some reason. He couldn't sleep, but he knew he couldn't leave the tower to wander the halls. Then he remembered how in his Xenomorph form he could easily climb on any surface and decided to give it a try. He went to the window of the common room and looking around to make sure no one was around, he changed into his Xenomorph form and crawled out onto the side of the tower. Harry had crawled down to the base of the castle and headed for the Forbidden Forest.

Harry loved running through the forest in his Xenomorph form, the wind in his face, and a sense of freedom, that had been unknown to him until a month ago. He continued to roam the Forest for the night undisturbed until he came across something odd. The was a dark figure in a cloak, hunched over something he couldn't make out, and it seemed to be eating it. He did not get too close, but the scent of the dark figure was familiar to him. He had smelt it before, but he couldn't place it. He did not have long to think though as he heard something else, and evidently so did the dark figure. Harry hid himself up in one of the trees as a centaur came out of nowhere and shot several arrows at the dark figure. The thing flew off into the shadows.

"Blast! It got away again." the centaur exclaimed, "This is the 5th unicorn this month." As he said this Harry could now see the unicorn or rather what was left of it. Its body was mangled, and its silver blood oozed out onto the forest floor. Harry waited until the centaur left before he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower to sleep.

Harry's first class was Potions with the Slytherins. The students filed into the dungeon classroom and took their seats, Harry took the seat next to Hermione. After he sat down, he got out a piece of parchment and a quill to take notes. Suddenly Professor Severus Snape, came through the door in a rush. As he walked to the front of the classroom he said, "There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion making; however, for those select few who possess the predisposition I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death. Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to not pay attention!" Harry looked up from the notes he was taking.

"Mr. Potter, our new celebrity, tell me what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Hermione's hand shot up.

"A very powerful sleeping draught called the Draught of Living Death."

"Lucky guess. Let's try again, where would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?" Hermione's hand shot up again.

"The stomach of a goat."

"And what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Once more Hermione's hand shot up.

"There is no difference, they are two names for the same plant, which is also referred to as aconite."

"5 points to Gryffindor for getting all 3 questions right." Snape said before looking at all the other students, "Well? Why aren't you all writing this down?"

The rest of the class time went over without incident, Snape told the class to study their books thoroughly as in 3 days they would be learning the Cure-Boil Potion. Snape dismissed the class, and Harry decided to take the advantage of being in the dungeons and went for the Slytherin portrait which was a snake. _**"Password?"**_ the snake portrait hissed at Harry.

" _ **I don't have the password. I**_ _ **was told by**_ _ **the hat to come to you and ask about Slytherin's Sanctum."**_

" _ **A speaker? So, you're a descendant of my master.**_ _ **I was the original pet of Salazar Slytherin before I died, master had a portrait of me made to house the Slytherins and keep his secrets**_ _ **. The sanctum of which the hat speaks of, lies under the school itself. A home for**_ _ **all of**_ _ **Slytherin's descendants to seek refuge in should the need arise."**_

" _ **Where is it?"**_

" _ **Go to the first-floor girl's lavatory, which is no longer used, and tell the entrance to 'open' then ask for 'stairs' to appear to walk down, but make sure to 'close' the entrance behind you**_ _ **.**_ _ **Once down inside the chamber you'll come across another door to 'open' and through that you'll find a massive stone statue of Salazar himself**_ _ **. Say these words to gain entry, 'Shelter me Slytherin'"**_

" _ **Okay, thanks uh… do you have a name?"**_

" _ **Veles."**_

" _ **Thanks Veles."**_

" _ **Goodbye Speaker."**_

Harry wanted to go straight to the lavatory but couldn't. He had breakfast period right now and was very hungry.

After breakfast Harry headed to Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Herbology went by without anything interesting happening, they talked about all sorts of magical plants they would be learning the following year, as well as spells to use to care for, or defend against such plants.

After Herbology, Harry went for the Lavatory Veles had mentioned, and went in shortly after making sure no one was around to see him. He went into the bathroom to find it not quite empty. There was a girl in there, she was a ghost who looked about 3 years older than him. "Who are you?" the ghost asked.

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter, and who are you?"

"I'm Myrtle, and this is my lavatory, what are you doing here?"

"I was exploring secret passageways, and one of them is in here."

"Oh really? That's interesting, how come I've never heard about it?"

"I only found out now from a message left to me by one of my ancestors."

"Well alright then. I'm going back to sleep in my toilet, come by some time if you want to talk, no one ever does." Myrtle said as she flew into one of the toilets making a splash as she did.

Harry then turned towards the general room, not sure of where the opening was and said, _**"Open"**_ The sinks began to separate as the top flew to the ceiling and one of the sunk into the ground covered by a grate. 'Well, guess I found the entrance' he thought before he said, _**"Stairs"**_ The dark tunnel lit up as steps lined the walls and torches appeared to light the steps. As he descended into the tunnel he remembered what Veles said, _**"Close"**_ and with that the entrance he had used closed behind him.

He descended deeper until he came to the Chamber of Secrets and stood in front of the statue head of Salazar Slytherin. _**"Shelter me Slytherin."**_ He hissed as the ground in front of the statue slid up to reveal a door, behind it steps leading down. He followed these stairs down into a room which resembled a study, with a portrait on it of a man wearing green robes, bald head, and a grey beard.

"Ah, another descendant of mine." the portrait said, "Welcome to my Sanctum."

"Are you Salazar Slytherin?"

"Yes, it is I."

"What is this place?"

"Despite what the other founders may have thought I never left the school. I instead built myself a house underneath the school, which is where you are now."

"What is with the outside chamber?"

"Other than being the entryway for my home, it also houses my gift to Hogwarts, Medusa, a line of defense, should the need ever arise."

"What is Medusa?"

"She is a basilisk, a giant serpent with the power to kill just by looking you in the eye, not to mention her deadly venom. She is however illegal, because she is classified by the Ministry as a Dark Creature."

"How do you get her to come out?"

"Simply say to my statue, 'Speak to me Slytherin and she will come out.'"

"Is this all there is down here?"

"Heavens no! There's a library full of books, it is enchanted to include a copy for every book that has ever been added to the Hogwarts library, there is of course a master bedroom, 3 guestrooms, a kitchen, and a living room."

"Wow, you thought of everything, but do I have to go down the large tunnel each time to come and go?"

"No, I'm actually a portrait that goes straight back to the lavatory."

"So, will I be able to use you to get back down?"

"Yes, just remember where I am in the wall, and call my name in parseltongue."

"If that was what I could do to get down in the first place, why didn't you tell Veles to tell me to do that?"

"Because then you wouldn't understand just how much effort I put into all this. Anyway, enough about me, who are you?"

"I'm Lord Harry Potter, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Peverell, and Heir to the House of Black."

"Wow, I would've love to see Godric's face right now. He's got a portrait in the castle somewhere. You should tell him."

"So, where can I find him?"

"That I don't know. I'm not the only Salazar portrait in the castle, but I am the only self-portrait. I knew myself better than any painter, so I'm the only true Salazar portrait. If you want to talk to the REAL Godric, you'll need to find his hidden self-portrait. We each created hidden places in the castle, but I have no idea, where you would even start to look for it. Oh, before I forget, which house are you in?"

"Gryffindor. I was going to be in Slytherin, but I had to choose Gryffindor."

"Why?" Slytherin asked slightly disappointed.

"The current Headmaster is trying to control me and if I went into Slytherin, he would've realized that was a lost cause and begun investigating me which I can't have."

"Definitely my house, oh I can't wait to hear how Goodrich reacts, you will come back right?" Salazar asked concerned.

"Of course," Harry replied, "Oh, I was wondering something."

"Yes?"

"In my account it said that Hogwarts is my property, how is that possible?"

"When the four of us made this school, we set up so that if our houses ever combined, the Lord/Lady of our blood would own the school to do with as they wished."

"I'm not a Hufflepuff, nor a Ravenclaw by blood."

"True, their lines ended long ago, leaving their control of the property to Gryffindor and Slytherin."

"Well, I've got to go, I have Charms to get to." Harry said, before going through Salazar's Portrait and ending up in the lavatory again.


	7. A Serpent in the Den of Lions

Harry headed off to Charms with the Ravenclaws which was fortunately on the same floor as the lavatory. The class was taught by a small man who stood on top of a pile of books to make sure everyone could see him, Professor Flitwick. Harry could tell by the short man's scent he was part goblin and wondered if any of his goblin family worked outside of Gringotts. Flitwick then went on to tell them all about the types of spells they would be working with in Charms, and the many types of spells which fall into the category of Charms. After his lecture, the class dismissed and the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws headed for their next class together Transfiguration.

In Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall discussed subjects which they would be going over in Transfiguration over the following year. Mostly transformation spells and switching spells. To give an example of the power of Transfiguration, McGonagall transformed her desk into a pig, and then back into a desk, to the amusement of the class. After a lecture about how "Transfiguration should be taken seriously as it is one of the most dangerous forms of magic taught at Hogwarts", the students were dismissed, and Harry was relieved that it was his last course for the day.

He decided to head to The Great Hall to eat dinner, as he had skipped lunch to look for the sanctum. When he entered the Hall however, he caught a whiff of the same scent from last night and looked towards the teachers' table and the aroma emanated from a pale, anxious, young man wearing a turban, who Harry had never met before. Harry decided to leave the man alone for now, and went to go eat at Gryffindor table, and got to spend time getting to know his fellow Gryffindors.

There was Neville Longbottom, the boy who lost the toad that he helped find. Seamus Finnigan, a clumsy Irish boy, at least Harry thought he was clumsy or at least had rather poor luck as he had apparently been trying to turn water in to rum, with explosive results. Then there was Dean Thomas, easy to make friends with, and who was already friends with Neville and Seamus. There was also Lavender Brown, who had already become friends with Parvati Patil. Harry however spent most of his time getting to know Parvati, and the two of them had become fast friends. Harry thought she was beautiful, with her black hair in a plait which showed her lovely face even more. She seemed to be the most fun intellectual of the Gryffindor's he had met.

There were other Gryffindors but those were the only ones who stood out to Harry as he enjoyed dinner. Harry then enjoyed supper with Parvati before sneaking out through the window for a run through the forest, an activity which Harry had planned to do almost every night if possible, this time however, he didn't encounter that man feasting on a unicorn again. Instead he came across a few centaurs who seemed to be hunting the killer of the unicorns. He recognized the one from the night before, which the other centaurs referred to as Firenze. After observing them for a while, he went back to the tower to rest.

Tuesday had gone on without any problems, until 10:45, Defense Against the Dark arts with the Slytherins. When Harry entered the classroom, he saw the man who he knew to be feasting on unicorns at the front of the room and was filled with disgust. Something in him did not like the man. He took notice of how the man seemed to stutter very often almost as if it were on purpose. The man gave a lecture on zombies. He gave a story about how he had dealt with some zombies for an African prince, and for his service was given the turban he wears. After that the Gryffindors went to Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, and despite also having Astronomy for the first time nothing else exciting happened.

Wednesday had an interesting start to say the least. Harry had gotten up on time with the rest of the Gryffindors except for apparently Ron and Seamus. The Gryffindors walked to Transfiguration and entered to find McGonagall had left instructions for them to read from their textbooks until she returned from a meeting, and her cat was sitting on her desk. Harry could tell by her scent that McGonagall was the cat, and knew she must be an Animagus, a witch/wizard who could turn themselves into animals which was covered in _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_ as one of the many possible abilities in transfiguration magic. Harry walked up to the desk, "Good morning Professor McGonagall, nice form by the way.", and after saying that went and sat at the free seat next to Parvati who looked at him like he had grown a second head, "Why do you think that cat is the professor?"

"Several reasons actually." Harry began, "1. Look at the eyes of the cat, they resemble the spectacles which we've seen McGonagall wear, 2. Look at the way the cat is observing us, that isn't normal behavior for a cat, and 3. She is a Transfiguration professor, so she must have talent in Transfiguration, so it makes sense that she would be able to pull off one of the most difficult and dangerous forms of Transfiguration."

"What if your wrong?"

"Want to bet?"

"Sure."

"O.K. If I'm wrong?"

"You have to answer all questions I have about your life with 100% honesty." Parvati said. She as well as most of Hogwarts was curious about him, but every time someone would bring it up, he would either ignore them or give a vague answer. Harry felt nervous at this but knew if he acted outraged by it, he would seem as if he was trying to hide something, which in this case he was. Also, a Gryffindor wouldn't back out of a bet.

"Fine, then if I'm right you have to kiss me."

"What?" Parvati almost shouted but remembered where she was.

"You heard me," Harry replied, at worst she would drop the bet, and if not, he'd get to kiss one of the most beautiful girls in Hogwarts.

"Fine, deal." Parvati said as they both pulled out their textbooks and began reading the page indicated on the board.

A couple minutes after class had officially begun, Ron and Seamus both ran in the classroom, "We made it! Could you imagine McGonagall's face if we were late?" Ron said with a sigh of relief. The cat then jumped up from the desk and turned into the Professor. Ron with a shocked face remarked soon after, "That was bloody brilliant."

"Thank you for that assessment Mr. Weasley. Perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure Mr. Finnigan and yourself into a pocket watch? That way one of you might be on time."

"We got lost." Seamus lied.

"Then perhaps a map? I trust you don't need one to find your seats." McGonagall said before addressing the rest of the class and continuing with the lesson. Parvati however looked at Harry, and Harry merely responded with, "Not now."

The rest of the day went as you might expect, Parvati kept wondering when Harry was going to ask for his kiss, and Harry kept putting it off. That was until after dinner, when Harry and Parvati were alone in the common room.

"So, about that kiss." Parvati began.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Harry replied.

"And what if I actually did want to kiss you?" she said playfully.

Harry was shocked, but also ecstatic, as he gazed into Parvati's dark brown eyes, and the two of them titled their heads and leaned towards each other and their lips met for the first time. It wasn't a long kiss, but to the two of them it felt like it lasted for an eternity. After their lips parted, Harry was the first to speak, "So, what does this make us?"

"Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

"Yes," Harry replied before leaning over once more and kissing her again before they went their separate ways for the night.


	8. The Twins' Knowledge

Harry felt happy. Not happy like when he got his revenge on the Dursleys, or when he learned about magic, or even when he got Hedwig (although that was a close second). The feeling of his first kiss filled him with a sense of overwhelming joy. In all honesty, Harry never thought that anyone would ever love him, but now he felt that he had a chance. However, Harry soon became worried over the fact he was a Xenomorph. Could she really love a monster like him? Would she be willing to become a monster like him some day?

Feeling overwhelmed with these thoughts, Harry decided to go for a nightly run. He ran for a bit and then found a small clearing where he decided to lay back and ponder his worries under the night sky when he heard a voice, "So, how are things going for you?" Harry jumped up into the tree behind him and hissed before realizing who it was, Lady Magic. Harry jumped down from the tree and morphed back into his normal self and apologized.

"No, it's quite alright. I thought it was quite funny." She said chuckling a bit at Harry's embarrassment.

"So, what brings you here?"

"I told you I would visit on occasion to make sure you were doing well. Now I'll ask again,

"Well, I've been put into Gryffindor. As you can see, I haven't exactly been staying in the tower all night."

"Like going for moonlit runs through the woods, do you?"

"Yeah, in a weird way, it helps me remember I'm no longer in that cupboard anymore."

"Anything else going on at school?"

"Well, something happened today."

"What?"

"I… kissed a girl."

"Really? When? How was it? How well do you know her? Is she in your house?"

"Couldn't you just read my mind and find out?"

"Yes, but where would the fun be in that? Now details! What's her name?"

"Parvati Patil, she's in Gryffindor, same year as me."

"So, what was it like?"

"It was short, but it felt," Harry paused looking for the right word.

"Magical?"

"Yeah! She's smart, but also fun, we get along great. After we kissed, she asked me to be her boyfriend and I said yes."

"Being a bit hasty in getting a girl don't you think?"

"Am I?"

"You're young, you have seven years of Hogwarts, make the most of your time, but don't get overzealous."

"I was worrying about something though."

"What?"

"Would anyone be willing to be with me once they find out what I am?"

"When someone truly loves you, it doesn't matter what you are, but remember there's no rush. However, just in case, I want you to look up memory charms. So, is there anything else that's happened?"

Harry told her about the Chamber he'd found underneath the school and the Sanctum within, as well as his classes so far. She seemed to enjoy the conversation until Harry mentioned the previous evening. To say she was angry was an understatement. She told harry the effect unicorn blood has on whoever drinks it and warned Harry against the man. With that said Hecate disappeared leaving Harry to think over what they had discussed. He decided he needed to sleep on it and headed back to the common room.

He crawled up to Gryffindor Tower and entered through the window to find Fred and George in the common room. Staring right at him with a look of fear in their eyes as they reached for their wands. Harry quickly turned back into himself.

"Don't it's me!"

The twins were amazed, horrified, and full of questions. They were amazed at how Harry had apparently already obtained his Animagus form at such a young age. Horrified, because the shear look of the form was the stuff of nightmares, and curious because they had never seen a creature like it before.

"That was awesome!" both the twins exclaimed, "When and how did you become an Animagus?" Fred asked.

"I used an alternative method I found in a book from my family vault to find my form about a week before school started." Harry responded, 'That's a believable excuse, right? I mean there had to have been some way of becoming an Animagus before the test they perform now was invented.'

"So, you've been sneaking out every night by climbing out the window as a… What even was that?"

"Yes, and I'm not sure." Harry lied, "How did you two know I have been leaving the tower?

"Should we tell him, George?"

"I think we should, Fred.", and with that Fred pulled out a piece of parchment from his robes and handed it to Harry.

"What's this rubbish?" Harry asked looking down at the pieces of empty parchment.

"'What's this rubbish?' he says. That there is the secret to our success." Fred said before pulling out his wand saying, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." After saying those words ink filled the page.

"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's Map."

"We owe them so much." George said, "The map shows where everyone in the castle is at any given time."

"Brilliant! Where'd you get it?"

"Nicked it from Filch's Office First Year, and we've been using it ever since. So, we noticed your name vanish from the tower last night, and decided to camp out here in the common room after we knew you left and catch you returning."

"You won't tell anyone will you?"

"Harry," Fred feigned a hurt expression, "I'm hurt you'd think we'd stop someone from breaking the rules."

"We're not going to tell, but maybe someday you can tell us how you managed to get your form, eh?" Harry and the twins talked a bit more about what they had been doing with the map and showed Harry how to return the map to its original state. The twins kept the map but said that if Harry ever needed to use it to cause a little mischief, he had to invite them in on the fun. Soon after their talking, Harry went to bed to rest.


	9. Tea at Hagrid's

Thursday started off simple enough, the Gryffindors had D.A.D.A. with the Slytherins and soon after had breakfast. What made this breakfast interesting though was that Harry got a letter.

Dear Harry,

You may not know me, but I knew your folks, and would like to speak with you. I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back as soon as you can.

P.S. I'm the Hogwarts Groundskeeper, you might remember me as the guy who lead you to the boats before you were sorted.

Hagrid

Harry was curious who the man was and decided he would send a reply as soon as possible, which considering his schedule would have to take place after his last class of the day, flying. Harry finished his breakfast and headed for his next class, Potions with the Slytherins, and partnered with Parvati. Today they would be learning how to properly brew the Cure-Boil Potion.

Everything was going fine until one of the Slytherins sabotaged Neville by throwing in porcupine quills in his cauldron causing it to melt and give a horrible odor. Harry took out his wand and pointed it and the mess created by the incident, "Scourgify" he said, and the mess was mostly cleaned up except for the half-melted cauldron. Snape came over to see the commotion.

Harry knew who it had done, he saw a student with blond hair throw in the quills and recognized him as Draco Malfoy. Harry defended Neville against Snape, but Snape did not believe him. He took away 20 points for screwing up the potion and causing the cauldron to melt, gave 10 points for cleaning up the mess before it could spread to the rest of the room, and took away 15 points for lying to a professor. With a total of 25 points lost, Harry was not happy with the way Snape was obviously playing favorites.

Snape was unnerved by Harry. He had used his legilimency to read Harry's thoughts to see if his story was indeed true but found an impenetrable wall. Something usually only found in children who had suffered abuse. He had to talk to Dumbledore about this if he didn't already know. Class was dismissed as soon as the last potion was finished and soon after checking everyone's work Snape prepared his classroom for his N.E.W.T. Potions class, and Harry headed for his next class History of Magic.

History of Magic was boring as usual, but lunch was enjoyable. Neville had gotten a present from his grandma. She had sent him a Remembrall, which turned red as soon as Neville touched it, but he couldn't remember what he had forgotten that caused it to turn red. After trying to figure it out for several minutes he simply pocketed the ball and went back to eating. Soon after lunch was over the Gryffindors had their last class for the day, Flying with the Slytherins.

The Gryffindors and Slytherins went for one of the outside courtyards where they found 2 lines of brooms and stood behind them. Madam Hooch joined shortly after they showed up.

"Good afternoon class."

"Good afternoon Madam Hooch." the class replied in sync.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson. Well what are you waiting for? Everyone step up to the left side of their broomstick. Come on now, hurry up! Stick your right hand over the broom and say 'up'."

The students complied with her instruction; Harry's broom jumped immediately to his hands, Draco's did as well after a few tries, but most of the students were having problems, like Neville, whose broom hadn't even moved.

"With feeling!" Hooch said to the rest.

After a couple tries Ron's broom whacked him in the face causing Harry to laugh. After several minutes, some of the students had managed to get their brooms up and Hooch said for the rest to just pick it up from the ground, so they could continue with class.

"Now, once you've got hold of your broomstick, I want you to mount it. And grip it tight! You don't want to be sliding off the end. When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick up from the ground hard, keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, then lean forward slightly and touch back down. On my whistle; three, two." And then she blew her whistle, but before anyone could kick up Neville levitated several feet up, and then took off flying.

Obviously not in control of his broomstick, the broom whirled him around and bashed itself into the castle. Eventually Neville got snagged on a statue the broom had flown over, and then he fell back into the courtyard with the rest of the class. Madam Hooch looked at his wounds and realized he had broken his wrist. During this time a certain blond Slytherin name Draco Malfoy had pocketed Neville's Remembrall which had fallen out of his pocket.

"Everyone is to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the Hospital Wing. Understand? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts before they can say 'quidditch'," she said as she lead Neville to the castle.

When she was no longer in sight Draco began talking, "Did you see his face? Maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze, he'd have remembered to fall on his fat arse."

"Give it here Malfoy!" Harry demanded.

"No, I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." Draco said flying off on his broom, "How bout on the roof? What's the matter Potter? Bit beyond your reach?"

Harry was angry at the boy, and Hermione saw this and said, "Harry, no way, you heard what Madam Hooch said, besides you don't even know how to fly."

"Who said anything about flying?" Harry replied before fishing his wand out and pointing it at Draco, "Accio Remembrall." Despite Draco's best efforts the small sphere flew out of his hands and into Harry's. Harry felt quite pleased with himself, and Draco was infuriated. Though it didn't really matter how he felt because Hooch had come back to find him still in the air.

"30 points from Slytherin for disobeying a teacher's direct order, now come with me, and we'll have a little chat with your house head. Class dismissed; we will pick up our lesson next Thursday." Hooch said.

With that Harry left for the Owlery to send a message back to Hagrid that he would join him for tea tomorrow. He sent the message off with Hedwig and headed toward the Great Hall for Dinner.

Harry was the topic of much of the gossip having shown up Draco during their first flying lesson. Harry felt quite pleased with himself. Despite what had happened Draco was in no way punished, and Harry now had a new enemy at Hogwarts. Despite this, Harry enjoyed Dinner with his friends and girlfriend. He discussed his letter with the twins who told him about the large man who brought them on the boats. They described him as one of the nicest people in the world. He loved creatures, especially dangerous ones, and wished to teach Care of Magical Creatures, but couldn't because the job was already taken by Professor Kettleburn. Hagrid was a half-giant who was once a student until he got expelled for some reason. Luckily the transfiguration teacher at the time, Dumbledore, took pity on him and got him a job as Hogwarts's Gatekeeper despite his young age. He lived in a hut near the forest, which Harry had noticed a couple times during his nightly runs and so Harry decided he would check it out that night.

When everyone went to bed, Harry snuck out as usual and headed for the Hut. He got up close to the home and looked through a window to see Hagrid sitting on a rather large bed while a copper kettle sat over a fire. He saw pheasants and hams hanging from the ceiling and despite how small he thought it was for the half-giant it looked very cozy, but his thoughts were interrupted by a loud bark. Hagrid's dog had noticed him, by smell or sound he didn't know but he did know he had to leave quickly, in a blind panic he rushed straight for Gryffindor Tower. Harry decided to just go to sleep as soon as he made it to the tower, the adrenaline he felt from almost being caught finally leaving him, he collapsed on the bed in exhaustion.

Harry spent the majority of Friday morning researching memory charms in the Hogwarts's Library, as well as some other charms he had found whilst searching for it until the time came around to head towards Hagrid's Hut for tea. He approached the door and knocked. Hagrid opened the door and told him to come in.

Harry took a seat at the small table and looked at the dog wondering if the dog would know it was him who had been there last night. 'Do I smell the same in my Xenomorph form?' he questioned himself in his mind, but the dog didn't seem to mind Harry's presence. He felt relieved at this.

"So, Harry how's your firs' year goin' so far?" Hagrid asked as he went over to the fire and took the copper kettle off and begun preparing the tea.

"Fine, I guess, but why did you invite me here?" Harry asked.

"I knew yer parents when they came here, and I was the one who took you from yer home after You-Know-Who attacked. I figured yeh'd wan' ta talk to someone 'bout 'em."

"You took me to the Dursley's? Why?"

"Dumbledore tol' me ter go an' get ya. Almos' didn' make it up the stairs when I saw James." Hagrid said as his eyes started filling with tears, "an' then when I made it upstairs, and I saw Lily I…" Hagrid began to sob. Hagrid fished out a handkerchief from his pocket at tried to compose himself. "After I got you, I met up with Dumbledore and McGonagall at Private Drive."

The two of them spent a couple hours talking. Harry told Hagrid about the Dursley's and Hagrid immediately felt responsible. It took a while to convince Hagrid that it wasn't his fault. 'It was Dumbledore's' Harry thought to himself. Harry then told him about living with the Weasley's for a bit before school, and his new girlfriend.

"A girlfriend this early in the school year? Your James' son alrigh'," Hagrid commented with a laugh, as he then began to speak about Harry's parents during their school days. Hagrid told Harry there were 3 people always around the two, well at least around James. His best mates: Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. Harry became curious at the mention of Sirius.

"What happened to Sirius Black?" Harry asked already knowing the answer.

"He's in prison."

"What for?"

"For betraying yer parents, and you," Hagrid said with a look of a disappointment obviously directed at the man they were now speaking of.

"How would you describe the relationship between my dad and Sirius?"

"They were the best o' friends. If you looked at James and Sirius, you might mistake 'em for brothers."

"How did he betray my parents?"

"Well You-Know-Who was after you and yer parents, so your parents took you and went into hiding under the Fidelis Charm."

"What's that?"

"A very powerful spell that keeps a secret of where something or someone is. There are 3 parties involved in the spell: the protected, in this case you and yer parents, the caster, Dumbledore, and the keeper of the secret, Black."

"Can't the information be tortured out of the keeper?"

"No, the keeper must tell them of their own free will. If it is said because they were being tortured, they couldn' even make the words out."

"How do you know Sirius was the keeper?"

"Dumbledore tol' me."

Harry knew he would have to go searching a little more into this later. Why would Sirius Black, his own godfather, betray him and his parents? What does it even mean to be a godfather in the wizarding world? He also wondered about one thing.

"What about Remus Lupin?"

"As far as I know, he's still alive. He became depressed by the loss of his friends and became a recluse las' I heard."

After chatting with the half-giant for several more minute Harry decided to head back to the castle.


	10. Of Maps and Rats

Harry entered the Gryffindor common room and decided to hang out with the twins. He glanced over their shoulders to look at the map as they were planning a prank for a couple of seventh year Ravenclaws when he noticed a name that shocked him. "Peter Pettigrew" was right next to "Ronald Weasley" on the map. He took a step back and looked again, maybe he had misread, but the name was still there. "Do you guys see a name next to Ron's?" Harry asked the twins.

"Well he's sitting with Seamus and Dean in the Great Hall," Fred replied.

"Stuffing his face, no doubt." George added.

"Anyone named Peter?"

"Nope, why?" George responded turning to Harry.

Harry knew that either the map was wrong, or the twins couldn't see Pettigrew's name, but why?

"Hey guys do you mind if I borrow this tonight?"

"What sort of mischief are you cooking up that you don't want us in on?" Fred asked.

"I'm not doing anything; I just want to check to make sure it works."

"Well, we've got to go anyways." Fred started.

"We've got a test to run on one of our newest inventions. So, enjoy the map, but don't have too much fun," George said before giving Harry the map and disappearing out the common room with Fred.

Harry decided to examine the map more closely. He saw Mrs. Norris stalking the Halls with Filch, Dumbledore pacing in his office, McGonagall sitting in her office, etc. Harry also saw on the map the third-floor corridor with a name Fluffy with large paw prints behind one of the doors. Harry then noticed that not only humans were on the map, pets were too, but Ron's infamous pet rat was missing. Harry scanned the map for several minutes and couldn't find Scabbers' name began to feel rather hungry, so he closed the map and folded it into his pocket and went to dinner.

Harry arrived and sat down at the Gryffindor table and ate with Parvati and the twins who were discussing how they had placed one of their newest inventions on the Ravenclaw table, Poultry Pasties. It wasn't until later in the meal that chaos erupted from the table as several students began to sprout feathers and when they tried to speak up all that came through were the sound of clucking chickens. Almost everyone was laughing at the entertaining spectacle, even the Slytherins.

Late that night when everyone went to bed, he examined the map once more to find Peter Pettigrew inside the Gryffindor Tower, and more specifically in the same room Harry and the other first-year boys slept. Harry crept silently back to the room to find where the man supposedly was, all he saw was Ron resting in his bed with his rat nestled next to his pillow. Harry looked at the map again, it still read Peter Pettigrew, and there was no Scabbers. The pieces then started to fit together in his mind, 'Pettigrew must be an Animagus, like Prof. McGonagall.' Unfortunately, Harry had no proof that the map wasn't broken, so he decided the only way to be sure was to find out more about Pettigrew and there were only two people who could help him with that. Sirius Black was in prison so the odds of being able to contact him were almost non-existent, so his only hope was Remus Lupin.

Harry almost couldn't sleep, thinking that there was a supposed grown man in his dorm room, but eventually sleep did overtake him. He got up several hours later and went to breakfast. Harry sat there in quiet contemplation as his classmates enjoyed the food and conversation with their housemates.

Harry knew one of two things must be true; either A: The map wasn't working which didn't make sense seeing as how it correctly showed everyone else, or B: Pettigrew was an Animagus and was hiding as Ron's rat. If A was true then the map would be untrustworthy, and if B was true then Sirius might be innocent. If Sirius was guilty and in Azkaban, why would Pettigrew hide? The only way to figure out which was which was to contact Lupin. 'But how?' Harry thought, 'I've never even met him before and I don't even know where he lives.' Harry was pulled out of his thoughts by Parvati who was waving her hand in front of his face.

"What?" Harry asked.

"You've been sitting there staring blankly at your food for almost five minutes. Something on your mind?"

"Just trying to figure something out, it's nothing."

"What are you trying to figure out?"

"My dad had some friends who were very close to my mom and dad. One is dead, and another is in prison, and I don't know where the third one is."

"Send him an owl."

"Um, I just said I don't know where he is, how am I supposed to send a letter."

"You think the owls can read the addresses on the mail?"

"Well they have to know how to find the person somehow."

"Owls are magical in their own way, they can somehow take a letter or package to the person who was meant to have it across large distances. It's something they are able to do naturally, which is why wizards use them."

"Oh, well that makes things a lot easier. Thanks Parvati."

"No problem now why are you trying to contact them anyway?"

"Oh, I wanted to know more about my parents, it's nothing," Harry lied. The two continued to talk and enjoy breakfast and soon after it was over Harry went to the owlery and wrote a letter.

Dear Remus Lupin,

Hi, I know you don't know me, but my name is Harry Potter. I was told you knew my parents when they went to Hogwarts and was wondering if I could ask you in person a couple questions about them. I know you're probably a busy man, and I don't mean to bother you over this.

Sincerely Harry James Potter

Harry looked over his letter once more and hoped Lupin would at least respond. He handed the letter to Hedwig after giving her a couple owl treats and she was off. 'Well' Harry thought, 'Here's to hoping he responds.'

 **Time Skip Saturday 7th of September**

Remus had been awoken from his sleep on Sunday morning by a sound from his window. Getting up from his horribly uncomfortable bed he walked over to the window to find a beautiful snowy owl tapping its beak on the glass. he opened the window and the owl flew in and dropped a letter on his bed before resting its wings. He was curious, usually whenever he got letters, they were regular barn owls and they came with a letter that just said you're fired before they left. He opened the letter and his eyes grew wide at the name, Harry Potter, and felt ashamed of himself. When James, Lily and Peter died, and Sirius was locked up, he had shut down. All his close friends gone, the only people who knew his secret and didn't treat him like a monster, gone, and the one he had loved had done it all.

 _ **FLASHBACK**_

Remus had been outside the country on a mission from Dumbledore when he got a message from him to meet Dumbledore in his office. Using the floo he appeared inside the old headmaster's office and turned to see Dumbledore with a grave look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know how to tell you this Remus, but last night Lily and James were attacked."

"What?" Remus shouted, "How? They were under the Fidelis Charm! There is no way in hell Voldemort could break through that!"

"He didn't," Dumbledore replied.

"Who was the secret keeper?"

"Sirius was."

"No! He couldn't! He wouldn't!"

"Remus…"

"He would never betray James! He would never betray me!" Remus shouted his heart breaking as realization of what the old man was saying took effect.

"I am truly sorry for this Remus, if I had suspected…"

"Suspect nothing! He didn't do it! He couldn't have… What about Peter, what does he think about…"

"Peter is dead. Killed by Sirius along with 12 muggles by Bombarda Maxima."

Remus became mute, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"There is some good news. Harry is still alive."

"How?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but when Voldemort tried to kill Harry something stopped him and now everyone is celebrating the end of Voldemort and calling Harry The-Boy-Who-Lived."

While it was good news the war was over, Remus didn't care, and left the headmaster's office.

 **FLASHBACK END**

Remus' heart ached remembering how the quartet became a solo, but if Harry was going to learn anything about his parents it should be from him, so he decided to write Harry a response.

Dear Harry,

I would be honored to tell you more about your parents, but I will not be able to visit until the 5th of October.

Sincerely Remus Lupin

Lupin was going to give the letter to the owl, but the owl was still asleep, so he just laid the letter next to the owl to take when she woke up.

 **FASTFORWARD Monday 9th of September**

Harry was eating breakfast when Hedwig swooped down and gave him the reply, Harry rewarded her with a treat and read the note. Harry was so happy he was going to visit but was a little upset that he would have to wait for so long, but soon after reading the letter it was time for Herbology.


	11. Duels and Cowardice

**12th of September**

The relationship between Harry and Parvati had been going well even though Padma, Parvati's sister, thought that Harry didn't deserve her sister. The only problem the two really faced was Draco. He had made himself a pain in the arse for the both by harassing them whenever and wherever along with his goons Crabbe and Goyle. Today Draco was being extra annoying and both he and Harry started insulting each other back and forth until…

"I challenge you to a duel!" Draco said angrily.

"I accept!" said Harry without thinking.

"Crabbe will be my second, who will be yours?"

Harry was about to ask when Parvati said, "I will be Harry's second."

"Fine, meet us in the Trophy Room at midnight!" Draco said before leaving with his goons towards the Great Hall.

"What did I just agree to?" Harry asked.

"You just agreed to a duel between you and Malfoy." Parvati responded.

"Right I got that, but what exactly does that mean?"

"Well, wizards usually duel each other using their wands to incapacitate, but not kill their opponent. The seconds are there to make sure the duel is carried out fairly."

"What happens if I win?"

"Nothing, I mean we are all underage and because of that there are no big stakes regarding duels. We just make sure we don't get caught. Now let's go get some food, before you get us involved in another crazy late-night fight," Parvati said as the two then went to the Gryffindor table and ate dinner.

Harry and Parvati snuck out of the tower that night and headed straight for the trophy room managing to avoid Filch and Mrs. Norris on their way there, boy did Harry regret giving the map back to Fred and George.

After making it through the castle, the two of them sat down on the floor and talked while they waited for the Slytherins to show up. After what seemed like forever Parvati raised her wand, "Tempus," she said as 12: 15A.M. flashed over her wand for a few seconds. "Guess he forfeits," she said with a slight laugh as she turned to Harry, "Let's head back to the tower."

The two of them started to head toward the door when suddenly the door started to open. They hid as fast as they could when Argus Filch walked in. They waited until he was gone to leave, but when Filch had left realization hit them like a ton of bricks, Malfoy had set them up to be caught. They had no time to talk about this though as they made their way up the stairs to the tower. When they got to the third floor Harry smelled Mrs. Norris coming down from the 4th Floor. Harry pulled Parvati down the corridor to hide from the feline not realizing where they were, they made it to the end of the corridor and found a single locked door. Harry quickly unlocked the door and the two hid inside.

"Why did we run in here?" Parvati asked.

"Mrs. Norris was nearby, so I thought it best to hide."

"How did you know that the stupid cat was around without her seeing you?"

Harry was about to try to answer when he noticed where they were.

"Parvati, don't panic, but I think we're in the forbidden corridor," Harry said.

Her eyes went wide at what he said as she remembered what Dumbledore warned. They slowly turned around from the door to find a large, three-headed dog sleeping or rather was sleeping as it seemed to start to wake up. The heads of the monster rose up and growled at the two wizards. Harry caught the attention of something by the dog's paw, but his thoughts were interrupted as Parvati pulled him out of the room as they closed and locked the door. Harry could tell that Mrs. Norris was gone and so was Filch so they made their way back up to the tower.

"What the hell is that thing doing in a school?" Parvati asked.

"I don't know, and frankly I don't care. I'm just happy we're alive."

"You owe me one," Parvati said seriously, "You were just standing there looking at the floor. If I hadn't pulled you away, you would be dead. What had you so captivated?"

"I thought I saw a trapdoor underneath it's paws."

"So, you think it's guarding something?"

"Maybe, but I know I don't want to go back and find out."

"Me neither. Well, I think it's time we get some rest." Parvati said as they went up to their respected dorm rooms and fell asleep. Nothing else of interest happened until breakfast, when Harry, Draco, and Draco's father received a letter in the mail.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I was looking into your finances when I came across an abrupt change from last night. There is now a debt owed to you by one Draco Lucius Malfoy. It was registered last night at 12: 11A.M. I must insist that you be brought to Gringotts at 7: 00P.M. this evening, take this letter to your head of house and you will be allowed to go, but you will need to take a teacher with you to leave school grounds. I will talk with you about the debt when you get here.

A similar letter has been sent to Draco Lucius Malfoy and Lord Lucius Abraxas Malfoy.

Blornok of Gringotts Wizard Bank

Dear Mr. Malfoy

You have incurred a debt owed to one Harry James Potter. It was registered last night at 12:11A.M. I must insist that you be brought to Gringotts at 7: 00P.M. tonight, take this letter to your head of house and you will be allowed to go, but you will need to take a teacher with you to leave school grounds. I will talk with you about the debt when you get here.

A similar letter has been sent to Harry James Potter and Lord Lucius Abraxas Malfoy.

Blornok of Gringotts Wizard Bank

Dear Lord Malfoy

A debt has been incurred by Draco Lucius Malfoy to one Harry James Potter. It was registered last night at 12:11A.M. Due to you being Lord Malfoy, you must attend a meeting today at 7: 00 P.M to make sure that the debt is paid by Draco Lucius Malfoy. Failure to do so will result in a fine of 100 galleons. I will talk with you about the debt when you get here.

A similar letter has been sent to Harry James Potter and Draco Lucius Malfoy.

Blornok of Gringotts Wizard Bank

Harry took his letter and got McGonagall to go with him, while Draco got Snape to go with him, and they both showed up at Gringotts and were ushered into the Office of Blornok with Lucius Malfoy already waiting inside. Draco's face immediately turned pale when he saw his father, which Harry thought was strange. The way Draco had been acting Harry assumed he was much like Dudley, doted on by his parents and spoiled rotten. Blornok then showed up coming through the door holding some papers in his hands.

"Welcome, everyone please sit down." Blornok said, "Now as you all know last night at exactly 12: 11 A.M. a debt was incurred by Draco Lucius Malfoy to one Harry James Potter. Now are there any questions before we proceed?"

"How did this happen?" Lucius asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"According to my records, Draco Malfoy lost a duel to Harry." Blornok replied.

"But they are just children." McGonagall said, "I thought duels did not have consequences for those who are underage."

"Correct, but to explain I will need you all, except for Harry, to sign this non-disclosure agreement so that this information does not leave the room until Harry wishes for other people to know it." Blornok replied before handing everyone a copy of the non-disclosure agreements he had brought in. After that was done Blornok continued, "Wizards underage do not suffer consequences from losing a wizard's duel, even if the duel is between two heirs of different houses, but Harry is the Lord of the house of Potter and a battle between a Lord and an heir, no matter the age carries the same weight as if they were both consenting adults."

"How did you lose to him?" Lucius asked Malfoy who didn't answer.

"He never even showed up to the duel," Harry answered, "Does that count?"

"Yes, a window of time is given whenever a duel is declared of 10 minutes. If only one party shows up they win, but if neither show up they tie," Blornok answered.

"Don't look at me like that. Duelling isn't taught until second year,"

"What is the debt?" Lucius asked.

"According to the records, the duel was a verbal agreement made yesterday, but the stakes of the duel were not discussed meaning it defaults to property. But, most of what Draco Malfoy owns belongs to the house of Malfoy and not himself except for one thing, his marriage contract."

"Marriage contract?" Harry asked.

"Yes, a marriage contract is an agreement set up usually to join families together usually for political power. The contract in question was drawn up by Lord Malfoy and Lord Greengrass in 1988, but the contract does not state which of the two Greengrass sisters he is to marry."

"But what if I don't want to marry either of them, what if I have someone else I want to marry?" Harry asked.

"Well, it is the only thing Mr. Malfoy can give, but even so it just means his contract will be changed to your name instead of his. It also means the Mr. Malfoy can never have a marriage contract with anyone from the Greengrass family. Lord Greengrass will be notified about the change and will have a six-month period to accept the contract or cancel it. Then you will be given a three-month period to accept the contract or cancel it. As for wanting to marry someone else, you can always cancel the contract. However, polygamy is a common practice is several parts of the wizarding world if you want to take that route," Blornok replied.

After several minutes of talking it over with his father Draco signed over the marriage contract to Harry.

"Mr. Malfoy before you leave a bit of advice. Next time you enter a duel, show up on time or don't go challenging someone if you're too much of a coward. You are dismissed."

"Wait Blornok." Harry said surprising pretty much everyone in the room, wizards didn't really remember or refer to goblins by their name. "What is to stop them from telling people I'm a lord?"

"The agreements they signed are magically binding meaning even if they wanted to, they can't."

After thanking Blornok for his time, everyone left. McGonagall took away 5 points from Harry for sneaking out after curfew but gave him 10 for being brave enough to still show up to a duel.


	12. Catching Vermin

**Time Skip 5th of October**

Time seemed to fly by as nothing really changed at Hogwarts, except Draco's temper got worse and he caused a lot more trouble. Draco did not harass Harry and Parvati anymore, but his antics made him a menace to even his own house. Harry kept thinking of his meeting later with Remus. Soon after he got the response, he set up a time for them to meet under McGonagall's supervision.

Professor McGonagall went to the Gryffindor table to tell Harry to meet her in her office at 11 A.M. as that was when Remus was going to arrive. Harry enjoyed breakfast with Parvati and the twins. He made sure to get the map back from the twins before going because he knew that was his only reason for thinking the Pettigrew was Scabbers. After breakfast was over Harry went to McGonagall's Office to wait. He didn't have to wait long as the fireplace in her office, sprang to life lighting up in a green fire before Remus walked out of it.

"Oh, Remus it's so good to see you," McGonagall said hugging the man, which shocked Harry.

"Good to see you too Professor," Remus responded before turning, "And you must be Harry. You look just like your father, except you have your mother's eyes."

Harry was about to speak when Filch came into the office dragging two 6th Year Gryffindors with him.

"These two were found trying to enter the Forbidden Corridor Ma'am," Filch supplied. 'Called it' Harry thought to himself.

McGonagall turned to look at the two in question, "Excuse me gentlemen I will be back shortly, please remain in my office until I return." McGonagall then took the two Gryffindors to decide their punishments. Remus and Harry sat down in front of the desk.

"So, you asked me here to answer your questions, didn't you? Ask away." Remus said.

"How close were you to my father?"

"James, Peter, Sirius and I were part of a group at Hogwarts that caused quite a bit of chaos when we went here."

"Like Fred and George?" Harry asked, "The Weasley Twins, they are the biggest pranksters at Hogwarts creating all sorts of fun ways to mess with people."

"Really?" Remus asked curiously, "Give me an example of something they've done recently."

"They created these treats called 'Poultry Pasties' that cause the individual who eats even a small bite of it to grow feathers and cluck like chickens for several minutes depending on the amount eaten. They left a platter full of them on the Ravenclaw table."

As Harry finished Remus busted out laughing, "Geniuses! Those two would've made great Marauders..."

"Wait did you just say Marauder?"

"That was the name of our little group, The Marauders. We each had our own codename and everything."

"And a map."

"How did you know about the..." Remus began to ask as his eyes grew wide at the piece of parchment Harry had taken out of his pocket, "Where did you find it?"

"I didn't Fred and George stole it from Filch their first year and have been using it ever since."

"They are Marauders in everything but name."

"I have a question about the map. Does it ever make a mistake?"

"No, it never makes a mistake. Why do you ask?"

"Before I answer that, were any of the Marauder's animagi?"

"Yes, we all were." Remus lied, "But what does that have to do with the map?"

Harry put the map on the desk, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The map filled with ink as Harry went over to find Ron hanging out in Gryffindor Tower. "What names do you see in Gryffindor Tower?" Harry asked.

Remus took the map and looked at it and began reading, "Ronald Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, Peter Petti… That can't be. He's dead, but if he isn't then…" Remus sat back in his chair, lost in thought. Harry decided to leave him to process the information.

Harry said, "Mischief managed," before hiding the map, and waiting for McGonagall, who came back several minutes later.

Harry had an idea and asked McGonagall, "Professor, would it be O.K. if we took Remus to see the Gryffindor common room?"

She seemed to think it over before responding, "I will allow him to see the common room, but he cannot go anywhere near the dorm rooms and I will accompany you."

On their way up, the steps Harry whispered just loud enough for Remus to hear, "Do you know a spell to undo an Animagus transformation?"

"Yes" he responded.

"When we get to the tower look for Peter near Ron Weasley, he has fiery red hair and freckles and usually plays wizards chess." Remus merely nodded still seeming to try to come to grips with everything.

When they got to the common room Remus felt happy and sad as memories of his years at Hogwarts came rushing back to him, until he saw Scabbers that is. Remus pulled out his wand and aimed it at the rat sitting next to Ron, McGonagall thought he had gone mad and was trying to attack a student, but before she could do anything he shouted, "Homorphus!" and a bright blue light emitted from his wand and Pettigrew was forced into his human form there in the middle of the common room.

After Peter realized he had been found out, he looked at Remus, who at this point had a look that was a mixture of sadness and anger and before Peter could utter a sound, Remus pointed his wand at Peter and said, "Petrificus Totalis" and the rat-like man froze in place. McGonagall was shocked beyond words. One second, she was showing one of her old students the common room and now a man she had thought dead for 10 years laid at her feet paralyzed. McGonagall went over to the fire and took out some of the emergency floo powder that all the common rooms had. These were only accessible to the Head Boy, Head Girl, and the Head of the House. She used the floo to contact the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Soon after the message was sent Dumbledore came into the common room.

He had alarms in his office for each common room's fireplace to alert him whenever the floo network was used. The thing that made Dumbledore check it out was the floo network was used to contact the Ministry. Not wanting the Ministry to get involved with anything at his school he decided to head straight for the Tower. When he walked into the room his regular cheerful expression dampened upon seeing Peter lying on the ground.

"What's going on Minerva?" Dumbledore asked innocently.

"I have just contacted the D.M.L.E. to open up an investigation into why Pettigrew found it necessary to hide for 10 years." True to her word no less than five aurors flooed in from the Ministry and after a brief explanation of the events that took place from McGonagall, Harry and Remus the aurors left with the frozen wizard.

It had been a week since Pettigrew was taken into custody and Hogwarts was alive with gossip. Most of the rumors, were centered around either Dumbledore, or Ron were aware that Pettigrew was "Scabbers". This lead to Ron losing face with most of the school and becoming more isolated then before, his only friends outside of his family were Seamus, Dean, Harry and a few others, though Harry spent most of his time with Parvati and the twins. Remus almost the day after the incident started writing back and forth with Harry.

Harry sat down to enjoy breakfast with his girlfriend when he noticed he got an envelope in the mail. The envelope was addressed to Harry, but it was from the Ministry. He opened the envelope and read the contents.

British Ministry of Magic Vs. Peter Pettigrew

Subpoena ad testificandum

YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED to appear in the British Ministry of Magic Court at the place, date, and time specified below to testify in the above-entitled case.

PLACE: British Ministry Courtroom 7 Whitehall, London, England, Great Britain

DATE: 6 November 1991

TIME: 9:30 A.M.

Dear Mr. Potter,

You have been summoned to appear in court as dictated by the subpoena you received within this envelope. Failure to appear will result in the court finding you in contempt and you will be arrested.

Since you are a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry you will have to have an escort from a school's staff member who has not been summoned to appear in court for any case. The subpoena also excuses you from all your classes for that day.

A letter has also been sent to your Headmaster to inform him that you have the Ministry's permission to leave the grounds.

Sincerely Madame Bones

Harry felt uneasy at the last part of Madame Bones' letter. Harry didn't want Dumbledore meddling in his life any more than he had already. Almost confirming Harry's belief that Dumbledore was going to react to the letter he received, Percy came over to Harry, "Dumbledore wants to see you in his office."

"But I don't even know where his office is." Harry replied.

"I know, I will be escorting you there as soon as you're done eating."

Harry continued to eat his breakfast for a few more minutes while talking with Parvati, much to the annoyance of Percy who wanted Harry to hurry up. After being badgered by Percy on taking too long Harry kissed Parvati and then left for the Headmaster's Office.

Percy lead Harry to the second floor into a corridor with a gryphon statue. The two boys walked up to the gryphon, "Sherbet Lemon" Percy said as the gryphon stepped aside and allowed the two to enter. The office was a large circular room. Harry noticed several strange silver instruments standing on spindle-legged tables emitting smoke. He also saw a claw footed desk which he assumed to be Dumbledore's, and next to it a perch with a beautiful crimson bird.

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley, for bringing Harry to my office, you are dismissed." Dumbledore said as he came into his Office from an upstairs room. Percy then left leaving the two alone. Dumbledore began walking over to his desk, "Come Harry have a seat." Harry took a seat in front of the desk as Dumbledore reached into a bowl on his desk and took out a single yellow candy and popped one into his mouth, "Want one?" Dumbledore asked offering one to Harry.

"No thank you."

"Suit yourself." Dumbledore replied tossing the candy back into the bowl, "Now Harry I received a letter this morning that you would be needing an escort to testify in court."

'Here it comes.' Harry thought, 'He's going to make himself my escort.'

"Unfortunately, I cannot take you myself as I also have received a subpoena. So, regarding your escort I have decided that Professor Snape will escort you."

"Why not Professor McGonagall?"

"She has also received a subpoena."

"Okay, I get why she was, but why were you? She was there, you weren't."

"I am the headmaster of the school. It is my responsibility to protect my students. So, I will most likely be asked information about how Pettigrew got into the School," Dumbledore replied, seeming worried.

"But why Snape? He hates me!" Harry asked. In all honesty it wasn't that Snape was particularly nasty towards Harry, but rather he hated Gryffindors. Snape had very little interaction with Harry except for the occasional accident caused by Malfoy. It was almost like Snape tried to avoid him.

"He doesn't hate you Harry, he's hard on all his students. Besides, I would trust Snape with my life." Dumbledore answered.

'This isn't your life we're talking about,' Harry thought to himself.

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what the plan is for the day of the trial. You will meet up at Severus' Office at 8 a.m. and he will escort you to the Ministry for the trial."

"Great…" Harry said.

"Well, that is all I wanted to tell you. You may go enjoy the rest of your Saturday."

Harry walked out of the Headmaster's Office, and went straight to the Sanctum to look into what to expect at the trial, but after hours of searching Harry sat defeated. While Salazar had been truthful about the Library being filled with copies of every book ever to grace the shelves of the Hogwart's library, none of them were sorted, and there was no possible way for Harry to find anything helpful. Harry had tried to comb through the books but hadn't found anything. Harry was about to leave the Sanctum when he thought about asking Slytherin where he could find the book or at least give him some insight on what to look for when if he ended up having to search the Hogwart's library.

"Uh… Salazar?" Harry asked the portrait.

"Yes?"

"I was looking for a book but…"

"The place is a mess isn't it?"

"Yeah…"

"No surprise really, I had my house elves keep the sanctum in order while I was alive and even while I laid dead, but I assume the last person who came before you took them as his own when he left the school, as was his right. What did you need the book for if I may ask?"

"A man was caught in the Gryffindor Common Room and I've been called as a witness and was trying to figure out what I should expect at the trial."

Salazar's once calming smile turned into a cold glare, "How did they manage to get in the castle?"

"He was an Animagus, a rat. He pretended to be Ron's pet."

"And I'm assuming this 'Ron' had no knowledge of this or relation to the man."

"Right."

"Well, I'm not sure what you should expect… It's been many years since I lived and breathed, but when I was alive the punishment for this man's actions if there was ill intent would have been imprisonment for 50 years at least and if there wasn't any ill intent a heavy fine…wait you said he is a rat Animagus?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Rats have never been allowed as Hogwarts pets. When I was alive people could have an owl, a cat or a toad, has that changed?"

"No."

"Then your Headmaster must have examined the rat in question before allowing it into the school, and any wizard worth his salt would know to test for the possibility of Animagi. If they didn't do that, they are either incompetent or knew what the rat really was, either way I think Hogwart's will need a new Headmaster soon."

'Without Dumbledore as Headmaster, I could be more myself and not worried what kind of weird mind games he might play on me.' Harry thought, "Thanks a lot Salazar, that helps a lot actually."

"Glad to be of use Harry," Salazar said as Harry left to go spend time with Parvati.


	13. A Quarrel with Quirrell

**Hello everyone, here it is the new chapter, and the results of the poll, Harry Potter's hive won't start until year 4. As stated before, any further notices will** **be placed** **here in bold instead of taking up an entire chapter. Hope you enjoy.**

 _October 7_

A few nights after meeting with Dumbledore, Harry was out on his usual nightly run when he came across Quirrell in the woods about to attack a unicorn. He acted fast, moving as a shadow amongst the flora, he pounced onto the professor knocking him to the ground, Quirrell turned into a cloud of smoke and appeared behind a tree trying and failing to hide from the unknown predator. Harry approached the tree letting out a hiss of warning

Then Harry heard a voice that didn't sound like Quirrell's, **"Why do you attack a speaker, serpent?"**

Harry became confused, knowing he was now talking to a fellow parseltongue it became easier to talk to him in his xeno form, **"These are my hunting grounds and you humans are not welcome here** **."**

" **I'm a speaker, I'm not like the other humans, I mean no ill will to you."**

" **It doesn't matter, leave now or face my wrath."**

" **I'm afraid I can't do that,"** the voice responded, the tone of civility gone from his voice.

" **Then die,"** Harry replied as he dashed towards the man. He moved so fast in the dark he was almost invisible, almost being the key word. The wizard shot several spells at the shadow missing him many times, eventually managing to hit him with a nasty confrigo.

The fire from the blasting curse causing Harry to back off from the wizard as he felt a large pain in his dome from the fire, but he looked back to the wizard. He ran at the man dodging the spells being fired at him as he grew closer to his target. He ran at the man using his barbed tail to stab at the man's stomach. The man managed to get away from Harry but was left severely wounded. Harry felt proud of himself until he heard the man speak again.

" **This isn't over you miserable creature, you will rue the day you made an enemy of Lord Voldemort,"** he said disappearing into a cloud of smoke heading back for the castle.

'Well shit,' Harry thought to himself. Sure, it's just his luck that the guy who killed his parents would show up here of all places. Hogwarts, the safest place in wizarding England, 'Bullshit.' The only thing Harry couldn't piece together was how Voldemort and Quirrell smelled the same. His thoughts however remained clouded by the pain he still felt in his dome, so much so he almost didn't notice the centaurs' approach. As he heard them draw nearer, he hid in the shadows. His head still ached as he tried to listen to what they were saying.

"This one is unharmed," Firenze remarked.

"Yes, but what happened? There's a lot of blood here, human by the look of it, and half the trees are blown to pieces," another centaur said.

"The wizards have noticed our plight and come to help, Bane."

"Don't get your hopes up Firenze, it is just as likely that they are the ones to blame!"

"I don't want to get into another argument with you can't you just accept that I was right, the stars showed that the killings are being fought against by someone else."

Bane wanted to contest the idea, but the evidence was damning. Soon the centaurs lead the unicorn further into the woods away from the castle.

Harry began to wonder if he could befriend the centaurs, though it would be impossible in both his forms as no one else could understand his hisses and Bane and the other centaurs seemed to distrust humans. Harry didn't think long about this though as the pain in his head kept distracting him.

'Note to self, don't get blasted in the future,' Harry thought to himself, he rested in the forest most of the night until he made his way back to the castle. Despite the headache and Voldemort being nearby, Harry managed to get some sleep.

As Harry woke up that Tuesday morning his head still ached slightly from the night before. Looking in the mirror, Harry was relieved it left no noticeable mark. After getting dressed he made his way to charms class with nothing of note happening.

As Harry sat in the Great Hall talking with Parvati and the twins, he noticed that Quirrell was sitting with the rest of the teachers, but he reeked of blood. Harry also noticed as the man began to leave for his classroom, that he was holding his hand against his stomach. Harry smiled in pride as the man left the great hall, that would keep Quirrell away from the unicorns for a while, but if he attacked Quirrell last night, then why could Quirrell speak parseltongue? Why was he calling himself Voldemort? Why wasn't he in the infirmary?

Harry looked closer at the man, noticing him strain himself as he winced whenever he turned to address another teacher. 'He's hiding his injury from the staff,' Harry thought to himself before he got a idea. He asked the twins to pull a prank on Quirrell.

There was nothing they could do this early in the day with no preparation. The twins had something they had been working on for quite a while, but they wouldn't tell Harry what it was.

 _Later that evening_

It was Dinner time and the Great Hall was filled with students and teachers. Harry didn't know when this supposed prank would happen till he noticed how Fred and George kept looking over at the teacher's table. As Quirrell took a big bite out of piece of cake the twins began to congratulate themselves.

"What did you do?" Harry asked.

"Itch Icing on the cake," Fred replied, and at this neither Harry nor Parvati could help but watch the poor Professor and wait, it didn't take long as Quirrell's skin began to break out and his skin began to itch. The rest of the Great Hall soon were all watching the newest victim in a long line of Weasley pranks. Soon after that he was taken to Madame Pomphrey and she discovered his injury.

She gave him an anti-itch salve as well as some other potions to help with the injury, when asked what happened Quirrell replied, "Terrible accident with a dark creature in the forest." Which while not entirely false, made Pomphrey give him a rather long rant about the dangers in the forest, and needing to be more careful etc. etc.

Though what Harry felt very strange was despite the fact he itched everywhere, Quirrell would not remove his turban at all. 'Could Voldemort be disguised that much by simply donning a turban?' Harry questioned himself. Then thinking about it, he had never seen a picture of Voldemort, and no one described what he looked like so he couldn't really be anyone and Harry wouldn't know.

Harry decided to go to the twins and see the map to check something, and right where Quirrell was supposed to be on the map was a confusing sight. The dot where Quirrell was overlapped by a cloud that read Thomas Riddle.

"What does a cloud represent?" Harry asked.

"Ghosts, Poltergeists, spirits, etc.," Fred replied, "See, there's Nearly Headless Nick in the common room."

"So, who is Tom Riddle?"

"No idea," George replied, "They never split, and I've never seen the ghost."

"Isn't that a bit odd?" Harry asked.

"Not really, I've read many stories about ghosts haunting people instead of places," Fred replied.

"Could Quirrell be possessed?"

"No, at least not fully, he doesn't have any of the symptoms of possession," George replied.

"At least not that we've seen," Fred added.

'Then I'll just have to find out just who this Tom Riddle guy is and why he's so close to Quirrell,' Harry thought to himself.


End file.
